Construct a Victorian Hat for Women
There are many types of Victorian hats. A simple Victorian hat for women is called a toque, a cap-like hat decorated with flowers and velvet ribbons. Of course, you could also add in other popular Victorian-styled decorations such as feathers and fake birds. Constructing the frame for the cap will be the hardest part. So if you can find a frame base already constructed, starting from there would be easier.
Instructions
1. Construct a frame for your hat using wrapped wire, such as floral wire. The frame will have at least three rows of wrapped wire around the head and a spider-web-like series of wire coming down from the crown to give the sides strength and shape. Shape this cap frame much like a circle to fit atop the head, but with a pointed end for the front.
2. Wrap velvet ribbon tightly and thickly around the bottom row of wire. Start at the back. You can sew the two ends together when you get back around to the back. Use a thick, sturdy ribbon with some stiffness to it.
3. Wrap another row of velvet ribbon around the second row of wire, going around the hat. These two rows of velvet, wrapped ribbon should fill in the space between the rows of wire.
4. Fill in the top of the cap by taping silk flowers to the rest of the exposed wire frame. Use floral tape or smaller wire to attach the flowers by their stems. Cover the cap above the velvet rows.
5. Fashion a bow out of more velvet ribbon. Position the bow upside down, so the ties stand up. Again, the velvet ribbon needs to be stiff enough for this. Fix the bow to the back of the hat, amid the floral decorations.
6. Alternatively, instead of the bow, you could add in feathers or a fake bird as the crowning decoration to your hat. These would attach in the same as the silk flowers, by using floral tape or floral wire.
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