By My Own Hand

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Buckram and Elizabethan Hats

I trained with a professional milliner (who is now retired) making reproduction hats, using traditional techniques and materials. I've done theatrical costume and I've also been researching and making documented period costume for over 10 years. Much of what is given below is based on my experience with the various materials.

Period usage of buckram

I have checked my copy of _Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd_ (Arnold), and it seems that buckram was used in giving body and shape to clothes (as Pellon interfacings are used now), but not to hats, during Elizabeth's time. Stiff felt was used for shaping hats, which would then be covered with the fashion fabrics. I suggest Arnold's _Patterns of Fashion_ for more information (with photos of construction details on an existing example) on at least one hat (my copy is now gone and I have been unable to replace it). Also, try the Elizabethan Costuming Page, as it focuses more on this period than I do, and may have more information on where to look. The main downside to felt is that millenery felts are fairly expensive.

Modern buckram

Modern buckram is made in a similar way to period buckram. "Buckram" basically is now defined as a coarse-woven cloth stiffened with starch, and the meaning of the word has not changed very much over the intervening time, save that in the 16th c it also referred to the unstiffened cloth. If you want to use it for hats, you should look for and purchase millenery buckram as it is superior for hatmaking. It should, in any case, be reinforced with a millenery wire frame securely whipped down onto the buckram, in order to produce a reasonably sturdy hat. Buckram's main advantage is that hats made with a wire-and-buckram base are less expensive to make, and are lighter, cooler and tend to breathe better than felt hats.

Other materials

Now, if you are wanting to *practice* making hats (or if cost is an issue), lightweight posterboard is a reasonably cheap and practical alternative for working out shapes and fit before working with an unfamilar (or expensive) material or technique. Also, medium- or heavy-weight posterboard is quite sturdy for costume hats, and is often used for making headwear and props for theatrical productions on a smaller budget. A posterboard base can be covered with fabric and finished just as a buckram-and-wire base can, and I have a few 'practice' or 'stage' hats in my costume closet that are indistinguishable from the 'real' hats to the uninformed. I have found that using an equivalent weight of posterboard for a base structure is almost equally durable as a sized felt.

All three materials (sized felt, buckram, and posterboard) are sensitive to moisture and will lose shape if they get wet, are crushed or damaged in any way. I suggest that you start out with posterboard to begin with and, once you are familiar with the shapes, fitting, etc, she can then move on to a felt base hat. The successful 'practice' hats, if nicely finished, will do nearly as well as felt-based ones would for camping events or other situations where one's best garb isn't really recommended anyway.

On Straw Hats

The basic woven grass/straw 'farmer hat' has been around for at least 2000 years. They are shown in many medieval illuminations of field workers. I have also seen Roman artwork depicting travellers and laborers wearing woven grass or straw hats of a very familiar shape.

I suggest, if you are unsure of whether they were used in your period, that you check contemporary artwork for images of travellers, laborers and other persons who might need protection from the sun.