Based on Kate Winslet's character of Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility.
Completed July 2008
Ever since I saw Sense and Sensibility for the first time I have wanted the hat Marianne Dashwood wears at the country picnic. Since I made the 1790s Dotted Swiss with plans for an over robe, and have a backstock of lovely large ostrich plumes I found that now was the time to have a go at it!
The hat is from Jas. Townsend & Co, though honestly, when I got it, I was a little dissapointed in the wide weave of the hat- it is much wider than in pictures. I want to make another and will be on the lookout for a thinner weave straw. Since I am in a time cruch, I descided to make do!
The first thing I did was fill up the kitchen basin with water and submerge the hat, leaving it for 15 minutes or so. It make the crisp straw pliable and not break when I bent it. Getting a tapered sized bowl from the kitchen, I placed the hat on top and, since the crown would not shape, used it as a tool to elevate the hat and slope the brim up, bending it with my fingers near the crown to get it to stand high. Taking it outside in the sun I used two heavier coasters to hold down the edges so they would not come up as it dried, and curled the back edge of the straw up to a little curve.
Progress Pictures:
I had a hat I bought from Mela at Costume College four years ago- and while I liked it at the time I since have discovered it was not my time period. It was more of an 1850's bonnet so I took everything off of the base and used it on this hat and I've left the blank to play with for another time. The ribbons look just like the hat in the movie, and it suits the color scheme perfectly! This is for the red Regency robe and the Dotted Swiss.