How to Make a Smart Hat

Yesterday I went shopping at the Antique Market in Toronto. I am always looking for interesting material related to hats, albeit even remotely related. I found the September 1923 edition of Good Housekeeping on sale. What a joy for $5 Canadian!

There are great articles and advertisements in the Magazine. It takes one back to the Flapper Age and Prohibition Time in the USA. It is a great time capsule. One of the gems in this particular issue is an article on how to make your own hat:

Millinery Lesson: Making a Smart Hat of Velvet or DuvetynBy Gaynell Ardell

I looked up the author on the Internet. It looks like this was a one time Millinery Lesson from this person – although there may be articles under another nom de plume. The good news is that the article is easily obtainable by you. Cornell University has scanned this Magazine and you can see it on line at this link. The article is on page 62 and continues on page 154. You can enlarge the size of print using the + sign. You can also print the article for your personal use using the “Print” button top left – you will have to print the two pages separately.

It is an interesting article and very reflective of its time.

Reuse and recycle were very in in those days. Despite our talk we are a wasteful disposable society. Instructions are even included on how to use the velvet from last year’s hat. It all starts from sprinkling magnesia on the velvet material!

The design is built around a buckram frame. If you cannot source one in your local Yellow Pages you can do an internet search for a mail order supplier. It looks like these frames are not expensive and are under $10.

Enjoy the article you will also find some other great Flapper Fashion in its pages – great stuff to browse.

Original article: 1923 Millinery Lesson

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