Friday 12 October 2012

Make your own hats

A lot of people find the idea of hat making completely daunting, but in reality it isn't so hard. True, some models demand a hat block, but it is also possible to construct hats with the help of wire, sewing them from a pattern or crochet. At the  University of Wisconsin Digital Collections website I found several books on millinery, ready to be read and learned from. My absolute favourite is this little gem; How to make and trim your own hats by Vee Walker Powell, published in 1944. It's not overly in depth, but it gives a clear overview with lots of helpful suggestions and diagrams. And the illustrations are just darling!



The content:





 And I love that on the subjects of what hat that fits you, the book tells us; "No rules, just common sense"!



If you want more, then complement Your Millinery by Winifred Reiser, 1949, a much denser volume with a lot of instructions and explanations!


As I know many of you are interested in other epoques as well, the website also contain these books on millinery:


The Art of Millinery: A Complete Series of Practical Lessons For the Artiste and the Amateur by Anna Ben Yûsuf, 1909

Millinery as A Trade For Women by Lorinda Perry, 1916

Make Your Own Hats by Mrs. Gene Allen Martin, 1921

Millinery by Charlotte Rankin Aiken, 1922

Straw Hats, Their History and Manufacture by Harry Inwards, 1922

Practical Millinery by Florence Anslow, 1922

A century of hats and the hats of the century by Edward Mott Wooley, 1923

Millinery by Jane Loewen, 1925

How To Make Hats; A Method of Self-instruction Using Job Sheets by Rosalind Weiss, 1931

5 comments:

Indigo Violet said...

You have pipped me at the post - I have recently acquired the same book and was going to feature it on my blog! It is a wonderful book.

vintagevisions27 said...

These digital books are an excellent resource. Thanks for sharing them!
-Emily

LollyWillowes said...

Very interesting, I'd love to do a course in millinery.

Isis said...

Indigo Violet: Oh, i am sorry! Great minds think alike or something?

vintagevisions27: My pleasure.

LollyWillowes: Thank you. It is great fun to make your own hats!

Indigo Violet said...

Don't apologise, plenty of books in the sea!

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