Make Your Own Hats | Page 3

and small Paper for patterns
Thimble--good quality
Thread--Geneva lustre, black and white, number 36. Colored thread as needed.
Needles--assorted paper of milliner's needles, 8 to 10.
Tape-measure--of good quality sateen.
Tailor's chalk--white and dark blue.
Milliner's pliers--pliers which fit the hand, not too heavy, with blunt points, and sharp enough to cut a thread.
MATERIALS USED TO MAKE HAT FRAMES
Fabrics--
Buckram Crinoline Cape net Neteen or Fly net Willow plate
Wires--
Cable Frame or brace wire Lace Tie Ribbon Sprung
Paper for patterns--
Heavy manila
BUCKRAM--
Comes in black and white, about twenty-seven inches wide--a heavy stiff material, smooth on one side and rather rough on the other. It is more commonly used for hat foundations than any other fabric. There is also a summer buckram, lighter in weight and smooth on both sides.
CRINOLINE--
Comes in black and white, twenty-seven inches wide--a stiff, thin, open-meshed material, used to make soft hat frames, to cover wire frames, and in bias strips to cover edge wire after it is sewed on the fabric frame.
NETEEN OR FLY NET--
A stiff open-meshed material--comes in black, white, and ecru, one yard wide--a very popular material on account of its great pliability and lightness. It is used for blocking frames and copying, the lines being much softer than when made with buckram. Very durable.
CAPE NET--
A light-weight, open-meshed material used for blocking and for soft frames. Not as pliable as neteen.
WILLOW PLATE--
A coarse straw-like material, light in weight, brittle, and very expensive, used in blocking; frames are also made from it without blocking.
Must be dampened before using. Not recommended for amateurs.
WIRE comes in black, white, silver, and gilt, and is covered with cotton, mercerized cotton, and silk. It may be procured in single and double bolts.
CABLE--
Largest wire used in millinery. In making wire frames, it is used as edge wire and sometimes for the entire frame. Being larger than frame wire, it makes a pleasing effect when used as part of the wire frame design, if it is to be covered with sheer material.
FRAME OR BRACE WIRE--
Used in making frames and is sewed on the edge of all buckram and fabric hat frames.
LACE--
Smaller than frame wire, used for wiring lace ribbon and flowers, and sometimes for making an entire frame when a very dainty design is desired.
[Illustration: SHOWING SHAPED BRIM OF NETEEN WITH RIBBON-WIRE BRACES BASTED IN PLACE]
TIE--
Smallest wire used in millinery; comes wound on spools. Is used to tie other wires, and in making hand-made flowers. Comes in black, white, and green.
RIBBON--
A cotton ribbon about three eighths of an inch wide, with a fine wire woven through the center, also a wire on each edge. Used to wire ribbons.
SPRUNG--
An uncovered steel wire used to make halo brims; is sometimes sewed on edge of buckram or other fabric brims, if the hat is unusually wide, or if a brim is to be especially stiff. It is occasionally used as an edge wire on wire frames.

HAT FRAMES OF FABRIC
Much care, thought, and patience must be exercised in making the frame of any hat. It is the foundation upon which we build, and if poorly made no amount of work can cover it up later. A hat must be right every step of the way. The frame is the first step, and so the most important.
The simplest hat to make is the straight brim sailor with a square crown, covered with velvet. Such a model we will take up at first.
SAILOR HAT FRAME--
For convenience we will use the following dimensions: Width of brim, three inches; height of crown, three and one-half inches; length of crown tip, eight and one-half inches; width of crown tip, six and one-half inches, and headsize, twenty-four inches.
PATTERN FOR BRIM--
Cut from a piece of manila paper fourteen and one-half by fourteen and one-half inches the largest possible circle; the paper may be folded into halves, then quarters, then into eighths and creased.
A round brim will not be of equal width all around from headsize wire, because the headsize wire must be oval to fit the head. The front and back will both be about an inch narrower than the sides.
HEADSIZE WIRE--
TO MEASURE--This is especially important, for upon the accuracy of this measurement depends the comfort of the wearer; this is the foundation wire. Pass a tape measure around the head over the hair where the hat is to rest and add two inches to this measure. One is for lapping the ends and the other inch is to allow for lining and covering of hat which goes up into the headsize.[7-1]
As our headsize measure is twenty-four inches long, cut a piece of frame wire twenty-six inches long; this allows for the two inches just mentioned. Lap the ends one inch and fasten each end with tie wire.[7-2] Wire always laps one inch--no more, no less.
TO SHAPE--With the hands inside, pull the circle until it is elongated to fit the head. This