The Straw Bonnet Fiasco: Part 2--Bonnet All Fixed Up Now!

After trying to dye my straw bonnet with Rit dye, having it not only fail and then discovering my glove leaked, thus getting more dye on my hand than on my bonnet, I was very disheartened.  When last I wrote about it, I left off as I was zooming off to the fabric store to see what they had in the way of fabric paint.

My local fabric store is pretty dismal.  Cheapest polyester, thinnest cotton, and woefully out of anything that is on sale or highly desirable.  I found puffy paint, but no fabric paint.  Rats.  But then, aha!  I spied some fabric paint.  A whole tube of it!  Even found some of the color I wanted (black).

I sped home, found a paint brush and applied it.  It went on easily and covered the straw just like I wanted--thick, black and shiny.

I removed the interior of the original bonnet.  The poor dilapidated thing was not going to be in any museum nor desired by any curator for their collection, so I did not feel too bad about re-purposing it.  I added a bit to get it to cover more of the interior of the bonnet so my hair wouldn't get caught on the straw, as well as a velvet ribbon across the interior of the crown which assists in preventing the bonnet from sliding off the back of my head.

I ordered some cotton lace from the Netherlands.  My supplier there never fails me, and I used this along with some netting to go around the inside of the bonnet to frame my face.  Took a bit more stabilizer to gather the netting, but it went in easily.

Feeling very good about the way everything was going, I used some silk chiffon from my daughter's wedding for the bavolet.  The chiffon was originally white, but I had dyed it black, which resulted in it coming out a plum color.  The plum, I thought, would go very well with the pansies.  I planned on using two layers, but after messing around with it, decided to line it not only with cotton netting, which is very stiff, but a layer of black silk as well.  Then I used some black cotton trim around the bottom of the bavolet, that I had from a previous project.

I attached the flowers and some feathers to the side, which went on without any complaints.

Being the bonnet fiasco story, though, I was not done with missteps.  I ordered some bright pink silk to use for ties, and unfortunately when it came I did not like the color.  I then ordered purple moire ribbons instead, and messed up the order and only ordered a yard rather than two.  The eBay seller was very gracious about letting my change my order and the ribbon ties came quickly.

Whew.  Finished the project today, which is a good thing as the reenactment I hoped to wear it to is this Saturday.  Nothing like a new bonnet to make a girl feel properly decked out!