In November, 1995, when this bonnet was featured in Creative Needle magazine, I was absolutely enchanted. Chery Williams’ reproduction of this 1920’s simple, unique and charming chapeau screamed “MAKE ME!! MAKE ME!” so loudly that it went to the top of my grandmother’s hope chest project list. But life got in the way and it was only recently that I was able to get to it.
Basically, the pattern consists of a single piece of batiste 15″ X 9″ with deep zig zags along the front and back. This measurement allows a little excess around the edges for hemstitching.
My Brother Duetta 4500D does beautiful hemstitching, even through the two layers of Swiss flannel and lawn. This bonnet shows off the pretty entredeux stitch, worked with a reduced width setting.
Embroidery, by hand or machine, is worked into the front points and then the entire perimeter is hemstitched, either commercially or with a machine made entredeux stitch. Lace edging is joined all around.
The embroidered points are folded back to serve as a brim and the back zig zags are hand stitched together. Ribbons are attached at the sides and, bam! You’ve got a dynamite baby bonnet. Continue reading
Personally, I thought this little project was too insignificant for my blog. But my daughter declared the topic both timely and appropriate and insisted that I write it up.
