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labricoleuseSome time ago i posted part one of this two-part series, on carving a hat block from blue insulation foam. The bonnet is finally finished, so i've got some great info and images to share on the rest of the process!
First though, let me talk a bit about millinery structure from the perspective of patterning and geometry. (Bear with me here!)
Recall that this bonnet is a particularly challenging swooping "nuclear reactor" shape, which required the custom block to easily achieve. Traditional bonnet shapes are three pieces which can be flat-patterned: a brim (usually some variation of a crescent), a crown sideband (either a cylinder or a conic section), and a crown tip (a circle or oval). Most folks, even without much knowledge of geometry or drafting, can tape up a bonnet pattern sculpturally using trial and error--you put a seam in the back of the sideband cylinder or conic section, set the tip oval or circle in, fiddle with the brim crescent, and there's your bonnet, right? But with this bonnet, the shape of which is a geometric form known as a hyperboloid, there is no simple way to flat-pattern it. You *could* do it, but i felt it would be more valuable to just carve the block.
When last i posted, the hyperboloid was in a newly-formed state, shaped in the Fosshape on the blue foam block, but without a tip to the crown or trued up style lines. In the fitting, i consulted with the designer about where to cut off the brim--we drew the brim line directly onto the Fosshape--and at what angle to set in the tip. Then i cut it down to the final shape, wired both ends, and set in a tip of double buckram. I ultimately decided to mull the tip with icewool but not the hyperboloid, based on the hand of the cover fabric chosen, a monochromatic satin-face brocade with a motif of mums and bamboo.
The great thing about a Fosshape hat is that you can drape your cover fabric right onto it.
I've done several hats with really weird crown and brim shapes, and in my experience, the best way to cover a hyperboloid structure with fabric is to cut wide bias pieces and find some way to artfully reconcile where the seams need to be. This might sound flaky, but i always just go into it with the attitude that the hat shape will call the shots, and that *it* will show *me* where the seams need to go.
For this hat, i wound up with a really cool seam placement which, since i have the block and can remake this style a hundred times over if i want now, will definitely inform future possibilities for variations on the covering options:
Can you see the converging X of the piecework?
Here's a clarification.
For this hat, it needed to be one fabric though, so the contrast piecing will have to wait.
Now, it was on to the process of trimming it out and discovering a means to make it a quick-changeable headdress that would be stable on the performer's head! First, let's refer to the original design:
Here's the original hat design by Jan Chambers.
The hat clearly needs to support a lot of trim both inside and out, and with the scale of it, needs some means of staying securely on while the actress performs a very confrontational, imperious scene in the millinery shop. I decided that it really had to be attached to an interior cap structure that would sit cupped down onto the head. This would also provide a convenient place to attach that bouquet of flowers arcing over the forehead.
Interior crown cap of pulled buckram with flowers mounted on it.
This would make a cute hat just as-is!
The black wires form a "support tiara" that sturdily bridges the gap between the cap and the bonnet.
Completed bonnet, side view.
Opposite side.
Interior of bonnet with cap and ties.
Detail of trim: vintage hand-dyed velvet pansies, crosswoven silk taffeta handmade leaves, double-faced satin ribbon garniture.
Thus ends the saga of the Rich Lady Bonnet! But who knows, now that i have the block, i might just wind up making more for some future production...
Today though, i have to make a bunch of clothes raggedy and filthy for the long-suffering abused boys of Dotheboys Hall.
First though, let me talk a bit about millinery structure from the perspective of patterning and geometry. (Bear with me here!)
Recall that this bonnet is a particularly challenging swooping "nuclear reactor" shape, which required the custom block to easily achieve. Traditional bonnet shapes are three pieces which can be flat-patterned: a brim (usually some variation of a crescent), a crown sideband (either a cylinder or a conic section), and a crown tip (a circle or oval). Most folks, even without much knowledge of geometry or drafting, can tape up a bonnet pattern sculpturally using trial and error--you put a seam in the back of the sideband cylinder or conic section, set the tip oval or circle in, fiddle with the brim crescent, and there's your bonnet, right? But with this bonnet, the shape of which is a geometric form known as a hyperboloid, there is no simple way to flat-pattern it. You *could* do it, but i felt it would be more valuable to just carve the block.
When last i posted, the hyperboloid was in a newly-formed state, shaped in the Fosshape on the blue foam block, but without a tip to the crown or trued up style lines. In the fitting, i consulted with the designer about where to cut off the brim--we drew the brim line directly onto the Fosshape--and at what angle to set in the tip. Then i cut it down to the final shape, wired both ends, and set in a tip of double buckram. I ultimately decided to mull the tip with icewool but not the hyperboloid, based on the hand of the cover fabric chosen, a monochromatic satin-face brocade with a motif of mums and bamboo.
The great thing about a Fosshape hat is that you can drape your cover fabric right onto it.
I've done several hats with really weird crown and brim shapes, and in my experience, the best way to cover a hyperboloid structure with fabric is to cut wide bias pieces and find some way to artfully reconcile where the seams need to be. This might sound flaky, but i always just go into it with the attitude that the hat shape will call the shots, and that *it* will show *me* where the seams need to go.
For this hat, i wound up with a really cool seam placement which, since i have the block and can remake this style a hundred times over if i want now, will definitely inform future possibilities for variations on the covering options:
Can you see the converging X of the piecework?
Here's a clarification.
For this hat, it needed to be one fabric though, so the contrast piecing will have to wait.
Now, it was on to the process of trimming it out and discovering a means to make it a quick-changeable headdress that would be stable on the performer's head! First, let's refer to the original design:
Here's the original hat design by Jan Chambers.
The hat clearly needs to support a lot of trim both inside and out, and with the scale of it, needs some means of staying securely on while the actress performs a very confrontational, imperious scene in the millinery shop. I decided that it really had to be attached to an interior cap structure that would sit cupped down onto the head. This would also provide a convenient place to attach that bouquet of flowers arcing over the forehead.
Interior crown cap of pulled buckram with flowers mounted on it.
This would make a cute hat just as-is!
The black wires form a "support tiara" that sturdily bridges the gap between the cap and the bonnet.
Completed bonnet, side view.
Opposite side.
Interior of bonnet with cap and ties.
Detail of trim: vintage hand-dyed velvet pansies, crosswoven silk taffeta handmade leaves, double-faced satin ribbon garniture.
Thus ends the saga of the Rich Lady Bonnet! But who knows, now that i have the block, i might just wind up making more for some future production...
Today though, i have to make a bunch of clothes raggedy and filthy for the long-suffering abused boys of Dotheboys Hall.
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Date: 2009-11-10 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 07:38 pm (UTC)FOSSHAPE
Date: 2009-11-21 12:48 pm (UTC)The Thermoman of Dazian