You Have Made Your Hat… Now what?

Wall o' Hats
Wall o’ Hats

Guest Article by Gina White

Hours and hours have gone into the creation of your hat. (In my case blood, sweat, tears, frustration, and a few choice words go into the making as well….)

You have worn your newly crafted chapeau to your event to the delight and amazement of your fellow event goers, and you feel really good about what you have accomplished!

Maybe you tried a new pattern, or the era of this new confection was totally new to you. This time you used an antique bird of paradise plume, or a fabulous cut steel buckle. Perhaps the fabric used for its construction was that glorious shade of pistachio green silk you have been saving your pennies for.

Whatever the case, you have a hat or bonnet that, after the event needs a place to reside.  What do you do now?

 

There are several things that you can choose to do with your hats and bonnets while they are awaiting the day when you once again employ them to complete your outfit.

I often give my hats personalities and treat them as acquaintances. Weird, I know, but after spending so much time on them and with them, they feel like old friends. I imagine them sitting in their boxes or on a shelf peering at me, sending subliminal messages…“Pick me!!!  Pick me!!!” Sort of reminds me of the inanimate objects from Beauty and the Beast. But I digress….

A couple of things that can be done with hats and bonnets are to store them away or display them for the entire world to see their fabulousness!! Displaying them also encourages me to create more!

Various hat boxes for storing hats
Various hat boxes for storing hats

For years, after I would wear my hats to events, I placed them in cardboard or Rubbermaid boxes. This was a nice storage solution as these boxes can hold many hats.

But I soon discovered that the protection for my carefully constructed hats was non-existent. There was too much opportunity for the hats to do harm to each other and the embellishments that I chose to put on each hat.

I then discovered in my storage some antique hat boxes that my Great-Grandma had given me. Hello!!! Hat boxes! Brilliant!!  I stored my hats in these until they became too brittle to carry out this duty.

Enter Michaels, Ross, Marshall’s, and Tuesday Morning. These places sell lovely hat boxes in all sizes. I have even found boxes that can hold the super tall flowerpot hats from the second bustle era of the Victorian Era!! Huzzah!!!  This is a wonderful storage solution for hats and bonnets. I am able to store a couple of hats in each if the hats are small or one in if the hat is rather large.

A bonus for employing hat boxes for storage is that there are some incredibly lovely specimens to be had! I was at TJ Maxx the other day and they have some lovely ocean themed hat boxes currently available! For a long time, I had several hat boxes decorated in purple pansies and violets that I used in the décor of my bedroom!

 

Hats on Display
Hats on Display

My current solution to “What do I do with all of my hats?” is as decoration for my bedroom/sewing room.

One of the issues I had with storing all of my hats in hat boxes is that I simply forgot what I had made! Crazy I know, but I am quite serious. “Out of sight, out of mind” really rings true in this instance.

Since my house at present does not allow for me to have a sewing/costuming room, my husband is graciously putting up with me making our bedroom into a millinery shop.

He has taken a plank used for shelving in a closet and affixed it to my wall. I decorated the edge with vintage handkerchiefs from our Grandmothers and then displayed my hats on top. Some of the hats simply sit on top of the shelf while others sit on hat stands.

My sewing cabinet is also home to many of my hats. They are displayed as I believe they would have been displayed in a milliner’s shop in days of old. I like to imagine that my little set up would fit in quite nicely at the Pratt Sister’s store!

Store hats on stands and wigs
Store hats on stands and wigs

Other display techniques, (if technique is the correct word here…) is to pin the sturdiest hats to the wall. I use silk pins or some of my mourning pins and just pin them in place. I would not recommend this for use with antique hats as they are much too delicate.

I do display some of my mourning bonnets on hooks that are reinforced with cloth covered Styrofoam balls for protection for the inside of the bonnet. I have an antique doll house that sits in my bedroom that is a wonderful display piece for my hats. They fit so well together.

Hats make a wonderful decoration to just almost any room of the house! I have a pith helmet in my husband’s library/TV room! They can add a wonderful accent.

 

One thing that is a drawback for “open air” hat displays is dust. I do have a solution that I learned back when I was making silk flower arrangements. A hair dryer set on low and cool works wonders. Canned computer spray also works rather well in short bursts and while holding the can well back from the fabric.

 

Until a time comes when I grow weary of looking at all my hats, I think that I will continue to display them in my bedroom.  I do keep some of my “not so neat-o” hats in hat boxes in the hall closet, and as before I am always surprised at what I find in them!  Ha! Some things never change.

 

Gina White profile pic
Gina White

My name is Gina White and I’m a Victorian Geek. It all started with my Great-Grandmother, Hazel Prudence Palmer Chriswisser. She was incredible and introduced me to a love of all things Victorian and Edwardian. Because of her, from a very early age I contracted the crazy love of Victorian fashion. I adore researching Victorian fashion and re-creating the gowns, hats and the foundation garments that are needed to make the dress look era correct. I have graduated from solely making Victorian fashion to Edwardian, Teens, and even those Roaring Twenties! Oh, and did I mention the fabulous husband and family I have that allow me to cloister myself in my room to make my creations? Yeah, I am pretty blessed!

You can find Gina at her blog: Beauty From Ashes, and at her hat business page on Facebook: House of Faithfulness.

How do you store your hats?

10 thoughts on “You Have Made Your Hat… Now what?

  1. Lady Gale Carlisle says:

    While my period work is earlier, I find myself with the same problem, as well as needing to have a secure way to travel with my hats! When I do a Renaissance Faire (I am a Vendor), I have to bring multiple hats each weekend. Worse, I have a number of “flat caps” that are too large for modern hat boxes. Enter an expedition into my Grandfather-in-Law’s attic, in which I found a vintage hat suitcase that was large enough in diameter to hold a full weekend’s worth of hats! It had apparently belonged to a distant relative between WWI and WWII. It even holds my waterproof leather Outback hat. I still have to transport my oversized Feather hat pins seperately, but as I make them to sell, that isn’t a hardship.

    • Rebecca says:

      Would be very interested to see a photo of that hat suitcase! Hadn’t thought in terms of a suitcase, but certainly need to think outside the (hat) box because it looks like to find a hatbox of sufficient size, I’d have to special order and even then order a nested set to get the size I want for one hat! (at over $150-$175 per hat box).

  2. Michele says:

    Having been a Red Hatter for several years & now in to costuming I have found that my hats live nicely in Hat Boxs in my sewing room. I solved the “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” problem by taking pictures of my Granddaughter in the hat & a fixing it to the hat box. I use a fixative that will come away without harming my Hat Box. There are several to be found at craft/hardware stores. Over time the pictures have chronicled my Granddaughter, & now she puts on my dresses & we clothes pin them in the back so they fit properly. She puts on the jewelry as well. I end up with a reminder of my entire outfit & lovely pictures of my beautiful Granddaughter! By the way she was 8 years old when I started theis, she is now 17 years old! I plan to put all the pictures in a scrapbook for her & give them to her when she graduates from college. Win Win in my book!

  3. Anna W Bauersmith says:

    What great timing! Thank you Gina.
    Combine a brand new sewing room with a millinery mood, of course the mind goes to storage and display. Last night I made two fabric head forms for bonnets. (check out my blog for “Two Heads”.) They were so very easy, I have to make some more. These are going to be great for displaying finished bonnets as well as the in-process bonnets because I can pin right into them. (Now, I’m thinking about trying some papermache heads as well. Fun!)
    When a friend mentioned a quasi-local stationary store that has bonnet boxes, I was lucky enough to find some much needed shapes and sizes. They had the perfect size for my husband’s larger military hats, as well as a taller, narrow shape that is excellent for bonnets. These boxes have thicker, stronger walls while still being light weight. One thing to note – they don’t have cords like 20th century hat boxes. So, each one is getting a traveling bag to nest in.
    When it comes to hat/bonnet stands, do you have a preference for the tops? I like having a soft velvet top. These seem to work better with my bonnets, keeping them from sliding off.
    Again, great article. Thank you!
    Anna

    • Gina White says:

      Hi Anna!

      Oh how wonderful your fabric head forms sound! I will most certainly check out your blog! I may have to make a couple myself! I love the head forms too as I can pin my trim directly to the hat, making sure it looks great before I sew them on. Your hat boxes sound marvelous! And the travel bag is a great idea!
      For my bonnet stands, I use dupioni silk as it has a nice, non slip texture. Your velvet idea is a great one!

      Thank you for liking my article!

      Gina

  4. Annabel Mallia says:

    What is the best way to pack a bonnet or hat in a small suitcase? I am travelling to UK from Malta in September and do not wish to wear my headgear on the plane; nor do I want it to arrive squashed, and my husband doesn’t want to check in any luggage 🙁

    • Gina White says:

      Hi Annabel! When I have traveled with my hats, I too want them to arrive non-squashed! I have a wonderful Rubbermaid mini filing cabinet that my hats fit in perfectly. It has a removable top with handle and is roughly 14″ tall x 12″ wide x 9″ deep….I use that for my carry on and the hats have always made it unscathed!

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