Waist ties to half bonnet tutorial
I wasn’t originally going to make a tutorial so I do not have pictures of the whole process but I will try my best to explain what I did.
NOTE: Since this was the first time I ever tried making a half bonnet there are a few things that I wish I could have done a little better. The first thing is making the middle strip that lays against the head wider as mine came out a little skinny and I had a harder time keeping it on my head because of it. The second would be adding lace to the inside of the brim. (You need pretty wide lace for that which I didn’t have at the time.)
For the half bonnet I used:
* ½ yard black linen fabric
* Black ½ inch lace for brim
Quick reminder! I was able to do this with the Bodyline wasit ties because they are double sided. If not I wouldn’t have been able to make the back frill or side ribbons in the color of the skirt.
I used this picture as a reference for all the measurements I made for the half bonnet. (Ignore the round brim picture)
First of all you will need to rip all the seams and completely separate the two sides of the ties.
When you are done put two aside for the time being and lay the other two length ways. Since these particular waist ties are tapered you will have to sew two of them diagonally to keep the same width for the brim. If you do not want as wide of a brim then you might not have to do this step as it is kind of a pain. >.o
Lay one on top of the other and try to make a long rectangle that is about the same width for about 70 - 80 cm. I chose to make my brim 30 inches long. The width for that section should be 8 - 10 cm ( I believe I went with 4 in.) Draw a line diagonally and draw another line parallel to it for the seam allowance. You will have to mark the first line with pins or tailors tacks to see where the line is on the bottom waist tie so you can draw a line on that one for seam allowance. (I know this is super confusing, I screwed up and drew wrong lines the first time.) Once you have that you can cut at the second lines and it should look like this:
^The red line is where you sew along and the green is the edge of the seam allowance. The other black line is the screw up line.
There will be a line where the two pieces meet but as long as the fabric doesn’t have too busy of a print it shouldn’t be that noticeable.
Next you will need to round out the brim (use the reference picture as I do not have exact measurements for it.) Once you have that cut out trace it onto the black fabric and cut out a piece for the front of the brim. Next you will need to iron the seam allowance inward so the lace used on the brim can be sandwiched between the two pieces. Pin the lace in place and sew on the edge of the fabric making sure to check if the lace comes lose or not.
Once that is done gather the raw edge until the desired length is reached for your bonnet brim. Secure the ends.
For the flat portion that rests on your head measure out as much as desired. The picture says 4-5 cm but it can be wider. Just make sure to take seam allowance into consideration. Cut out a rectangle out of one of the two left over waist ties and the black fabric.
Next take the two strips that were cut out and sandwich the brim between them. You want to have the bad sides facing out with the strips laying against their corresponding fabric.
^The patterned rectangle is on the other side facing the patterned brim.
Once you get them fitted together nicely stitch and fold over the pieces and iron flat. Use a strip of the black ladder lace and sew it to the patterned side of the fabric and stitch.
^Here you can actually see the line connecting the two waist tie pieces really well. It looks a little bad but we try and work with what we’ve got. ;3
For the back of the bonnet cut out a long rounded rectangle using the picture as a reference. The ruffle should be at least 2 in if you factor in seam allowance but it can be wider. Fold over the round edge twice and stitch to give a nice hemmed edge. Take the other flat edge and gather until the length matches the other raw edge of the bonnet. Secure the stitching.
Iron the two raw edges of the flat part of the bonnet inwards. Then sandwich the ruffle so you see no raw edge showing and stitch closed. When you are stitching the sides add two long ribbons and sew securely in place. For the bows I used two rectangle edges from the first two ties that were sewn together since the bottom of the print wasn’t used. Use that as the top of the bow and add ladder lace or any other embellishment. I used black fabric for the back of the bow because I ran out of waist tie fabric. Secure the two rectangles together with a strip in the middle and sew the heart button to the front. When you are done hand stitch them to the sides of the bonnet near where the ribbon peaks out. Lastly hand stitch the comb to the center for extra help in securing the bonnet to your head.
I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I had hoped during the whole process, so if there are any questions feel free to ask on tumblr or through my twitter. Good luck!
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