The decision to look into setting up an e-bay account to sell my bonnets, led me to spending an afternoon perusing similar wares.
I'm afraid I was a little disappointed with what I found, and the prices charged, and said as much on Facebook.
Then a friend suggested I check out Etsy, which I did, and I was please with what I saw there...quality items at decent prices.
Well, I have now registered and am in the process of setting up my own Etsy shop to sell my Regency/Empire bonnets, as well as my Victorian sunbonnets...so watch this space (as they say)...
Having made a cream spot corded bonnet which presented me with one or two little problems, like realising that a Victorian Lincolnshire sunbonnet and a Regency corded bonnet are constructed in different ways, I thought that this time I would get it right. Wrong!
The back of a sunbonnet is made of a horseshoe-shaped piece of fabric, whereas the backs of the Regency bonnets all appear to be round, but with various designs from puffs to gathers.
The first mistake I made was to cord the crown fabric the same way I would for a sunbonnet, which left me with no alternative but to make a horseshoe-shaped back piece.
Now I had to find a way to disguise this...but how? Then I hit upon the idea of making a round corded piece to sew onto the back, but abandoned this because it looked so wrong.
Whilst browsing some books looking for ideas for something else, I noticed the use of puffed lengths of fabric used as trimmings on gowns and bonnets. That was the very thing I was looking for!
Here is the end result...what do you think?
