This 1840s bonnet is made out of a beige cotton. The brim and structural materiel is stiff cardstock with wire stitched around the edge. This is not proper millinery but it is relatively simple to do. Maybe some poor person would have a paper stiffened bonnet? Maybe? Deffinitently not rain-proof though. It ties under the neck with self fabric ribbon.
For the side of the bonnet I used strips of gathered fabric joined together with piping. There is also a pleated trim on the brim with a strip of fabric down the center to secure the pleats.
I have since realized that the effect would have been made by sewing small channels for reeds to go through, which would have also provided the stiffnes for the crown.
The back is plain with piping around the edge.
The inside of the brim is decorated with lace and fake flower petals
and leaves.
