Hats

“ Every gentleman has his three-cornered hat, either on his head or under his arm; and all wear wigs in infinite variety,—the Tie, the Brigadier, the Spencer, the Albemarle, the Major, the Ramillies, the grave Full-bottom, or the giddy Feather-top. Look at the elaborate lace-ruffles, and the square-skirted coats of gorgeous hues, bedizened with silver and gold! Make way for the phantom-ladies, whose hoops require such breadth of passage, as they pace majestically along, in silken gowns, blue, green, or yellow, brilliantly embroidered, and with small satin hats surmounting their powdered hair. ”

“ From a dozen to twenty of these strands—dyed and undyed—are plaited into the flexible braid of which the hat is built up—a task requiring extraordinary patience and skill. Such hats are made only for relatives and close friends; if an unmarried girl gives one to a man the gift has the same significance as the pair of earrings he would give in return. When a native boy appears with a new and gorgeous hat, the origin of which is veiled in doubt, village gossip hums until the truth is known ”

“ The straw of oats or wheat and corn husks were braided and made into hats. Hats which were almost everlasting, we used to think, were made of pine straw. Hats were made of cloth also. I remember one in particular of gray jeans, stitched in small diamonds with black silk thread. It was as perfect a hat as was ever moulded by the [59] hatter, but the oddness of that hat consisted in its being stitched on the sewing-machine with silk thread. ”

“ The chief shapes to mark in this century in male head-dress is the increased height of the tall hats which rise to vie with the female fashions. We still see a round hat [96] with a rolled edge and long fall over one side, besides shorter folds in the crown, both scalloped or foliated at the edge, and this shape may be noted till about 1460. Some of these hats were made without a crown, as in Fig. 28 (see p. 94) ; the roll was decorated, as a rule, with jewelled studs. A top hat, something like our present shape, appears, but more belled at the top and also a padded, rolled brim. ”

“ The round ladies' hat, however, of the middle and end of the last century, may be seen in its primitive state in those enormous circles of straw, brought from Tuscany, and sold in our milliners' shops, fit to be pinched and cut into the prevailing fashion. The hats, both of men and women—when once they had quitted the becoming costume of the Middle Ages—arose out of one and the same type; a large circle of stuff with a projecting central cap for the skull. Human invention, in the matter of hats, seems for several centuries to have rested in this solitary idea. ”

“ Three were men and one a woman, and all were oddly dressed. They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. ”

“ The manufacture of hats was commenced, in England, in the time of Henry the Eighth, by Dutchmen and Spaniards.
29. Hats made of plaited straw, grass, or chip, are much used in the summer; and caps of cloth or fur are now frequently substituted for hats, in cold weather. Silk hats have also been much worn, since the year 1825. They are made of the common hat body, and a texture of silk with a long nap. The silk is fastened to the body with glue. ”

“ Men wear enormous straw hats as a badge of mourning, but the usual style of head-dress is to shave the extreme summit of the head, while the rest of the hair grows long and is braided up in a sort of topknot with a little bird-cage hat above it. This hat is then tied under the chin as an American woman would tie hers. ”

“ That the ladies' summer hats, however, should be lined with black, as not reverberating on their faces those rays which are reflected upwards from the earth or water? That the putting a white cap of paper or linen within the crown of a black hat, as some do, will not keep out the heat, though it would if placed without? ”

“ The hat is the most difficult article of the whole wardrobe to select. Most girls and women wear hats that are too small and that stand on the top of the head instead of fitting it. Good taste, Miss James says, in choosing hats means the very thing we have studied about: artistic appreciation, a knowledge of line and color and form as well as appropriateness. ”

“ He urged his hearers to encourage the silk hat revival.
Sir SQUIRE BANCROFT concurred with the illustrious nobleman who had just spoken. The choice of a hat should be the subject of the most earnest thought, even of prayer. (Cheers.) Not only the shape but the colour. There were hats that were black and hats that were white. (Shouts of "Hurrah!") There were even white hats with black trimming. (Sensation.) The older he grew the more convinced he was that an Englishman's hat was his castle. ”

“ There is plentiful head-gear named in these inventories,—six caps and a hat for each man, at a time when Englishmen thought much and deeply upon what they wore to cover their heads, and at a time when hats were very costly. I give due honor to those hats in an entire chapter, as I do to the ruffs and bands supplied in such adequate and dignified numbers. There was an unusually liberal supply of shirts, and there were drawers which are believed to have been draw-strings for the breeches. ”

“ They should be looked at without a hat, so that the whole sweep of the head may be considered. Conversely, when hats are being tried on, one’s favorite earclips should be worn to judge their effect with the contemplated hat. ”

“ Their head-dresses are tower-shaped, very comical, and covered with hats of platted straw and lined with linen, just as the peasant children with us make hats of green rushes. The part which with us is broad below, and meets the head, they wear wide above, and top-shaped, in a manner more suitable for catching the sun and rain than for any other purpose. ”

“ In some hats the ribbon does not simply make the bow, but it is threaded through a greater or less number of holes in the leather, though now fulfilling no useful purpose. (See Figure 52.)
Fig. 52.—A hat with the remains of lacing.
[56]
In a hunting hat, however (see Figure 53) , the lacing is continuous round the hat, and the lining can be made to fit the wearer. It helps to form a buffer, should the huntsman unfortunately fall on his head, and it is claimed that many lives have been saved by this small detail. ”

“ A bishop's hat shows the transition from the three-cocked hat to our present chimney-pot; and because sixty years ago beaver-fur was the fashionable material for hats, we must now needs wear a silken imitation, which could deceive no one into thinking it fur, and which is bad to resist the effects of weather. Even in a lady's bonnet the elements of brim, crown, and hat-band, may be traced.
The "busby" of our hussars affords a curious instance of survival. It would now appear to be merely a fancy head-dress, but on inspection it proves not to be so. ”

“ As to the form of a hat, and what is best for this face or that person, there is more in it than what is generally supposed, and a great deal might be said on the subject; but to talk of a standard fashion is absurd in the extreme, in proof of which it need only be observed, that if very large hats were adopted, a thin man of five feet high, would, by the wearing, become as complete a caricature, as a twenty stone man of six feet would by wearing a very small one. ”

“ Generally speaking, trimming a lady’s hat is the special province of the milliner, and in this case, of course, hats are not confined to those made of straw or plait, and, in fact, this is an industry of its own, and is, therefore outside the scope of the making of a straw hat. ”

“ Felt Hats.—There is a great range in the quality of felt hats: the finer and more expensive qualities are made entirely of fur; for commoner qualities a mixture of fur and wool is used; and for the cheapest kinds wool alone is employed. ”

“ Instead of cropped heads, pantaloons, and round hats, which I expected to find, most people have their hair full dressed and powdered, wear cocked hats, and the rest of their clothes in the old fashion. ”

“ Some of the men wear immense hats, made of palm leaves very firmly and solidly plaited, and tapering to a point; they are made to fit the head by means of a small crown fixed inside, very like that of a college cap. ”

“ In spite of Dum's conviction about weeds she purchased a most becoming and suitably youthful suit in a soft mauve. Dee got exactly the same style in brown and I in green. We deviated in hats, however, and each girl thought her own was the prettiest, which is a great test of hats. Hats are like treats at soda fountains: you usually wish you had ordered something you didn't order and something your neighbor did. ”

“ Before making a hat, the entire wardrobe should be carefully looked over to see with what the hat must be worn, and the kind of service we are going to expect from it. Every article of a costume should be related and harmonious as to color, outline, and suitability. The result should be a perfect whole without a single discord. How often we see a green skirt, mustard-colored coat, and a bright blue hat—each article pleasing by itself, but atrocious when worn collectively. Bright, gay little hats are pleasing when seen seldom, but we soon tire of one if it must be worn daily. ”

“ Hat Hangers.—It is often convenient to hang up hats, even "Sunday-go-to-meeting ones." To make sure that everyone will stay hung up, and not fall to the floor to be soiled or crushed under foot, sew a loop of narrow ribbon or elastic braid or even shoestring, to the middle of the lining, making the loop long enough so that it will reach to the edge of the hat crown when the loop is pulled out. ”

“ By graceful hat we mean a hat suggesting repose, not the close, tailored hat of action. One woman we know always uses her last Summer's muslins and wash silks, shoes, slippers and hats in her sun-room during the Winter. In her wardrobe there are invariably a lot of sheer muslins, voiles and wash silks in white, mauve, greys, pinks, or delicate stripes, the outline following the fashion, voluminous, straight or clinging, the bodice tight with trimmings inset or full, beruffled, or kerchiefed. ”

“ After all, experience is the best teacher. Whenever a hat is found to be especially becoming, one would do well to find out just why it is so and make a note of the color, size, and general outline. These notes are of value if kept for future reference, whether hats are to be made for the shop or for home millinery. ”

“ The materials employed in the manufacture of hats have been various, stuffs of every kind and color having entered into their composition. The birds have been robbed of their brilliant plumage, the beasts of the field of their wool and hair. Amphibious creatures have yielded their fur, while the mines of the earth have given up precious metals and stones. All these have been used by man to make a suitable covering for his august head. Felt hats are by far the most ancient, silk hats being of quite recent introduction. ”

“ Many of our ladies had pretty hats and brilliant parasols, but I must say that the soberer tone of some of the old farm-wives’ brown calicoes and outdated bonnets contributed to enrich the coloring, and there was a certain gayety in the sunny glisten of the men’s straw hats everywhere that was very good. ”

“ Long veils, long plumes, hats with very broad brims, or very high crowns, as well as those which are worn perched on the top of the head, should be especially avoided. The hat must always be made secure on the head by means of stout elastic sewn on strongly, and so adjusted that it can pass below the braid or coil of hair at the back of the head. ”

“ Besides the high hats of either beaver, brush or silk, caps made of cloth or fur were much used prior to the89 introduction of the soft felt hat, and continued to be so until an incident occurred which created a sudden revolution in the tastes of the American people regarding their head-dress. ”

“ Nature uses bright colors sparingly. If you look at a plant, you find it dark near the ground, growing lighter near the top with its green leaves, and then the blossom; the glory is at the top. Everything in nature teaches us to look up. So the hat should be the crowning glory of a costume, the center of interest, and should receive the most careful attention as to becomingness, suitability, and workmanship. ”

“ The costume, for the most part, only differs as to the head-dress. The men wear a hat of grey or brown felt, somewhat similar to our own felt hats when they first come from the hatter’s board and have not been rounded to the form. The women form with their hair a number of small tresses, which flow over their shoulders. ”

“ Lace collars of a smaller square or rounded shape were in use, but a fall of lace pleated in the centre soon took its place. High-crowned hats with a band and bow in front and a flat, waved, or curved brim, with feathers on either side or all round, were the fashion, the crowns becoming shorter during the reign; the fronts and sometimes the sides of the brim are seen turned up, and so begins to form the three-cornered hat, which remained so long a feature in history.
Fig. 75.—Period Charles II.
We find with extravagant shapes a happy return of gay colours. ”

“ A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes. ”

“ All these hoods are utilized for making men’s or ladies’ hats, and except in a few cases they are imported in the natural colour, requiring bleaching or dyeing before entering the actual hat making process. ”

“ From these, with the aid of a few pins, she made a large package of the hat. To be sure, it did not look like a hat when it was done, but that was all the better. The feathers were upheld and packed softly about with bits of paper crushed together to make a springy cushion, and the whole built out and then covered over with paper. She reflected that girls who wore their hair wound about their heads and covered by plain felt hats would not be unlikely to carry large newspaper-wrapped packages through the city streets. ”