Pretty as a Picture: A Ginormous Gainsborough Portrait Hat (1780s)

For most people who are passionate about historical clothing, there's often a particular outfit or era that captures the imagination. It's true for us in fashion trends in our own times as well; we see a celebrity or a person we admire with a particular accessory, and then all of a sudden, it's everywhere and on everyone!

The same is/was true in the historical past. Others have written about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and her sartorial impact on the British world (and, by extension of colonization, the Empire), but I think this is encapsulated by The Portrait Hat (or Picture Hat, or Gainsborough Hat as it's also often called). I'm not an expert in all aspects of historical dress, but as I've explored this style, I've come across many sources that attribute this trend to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, having artist Thomas Gainsborough paint a portrait of her in a ginormous and jaunty hat of her own design. The popularity of the portrait and therefore the Gainsborough Chapeau, spread wildly. 

Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Chatsworth House private collection. Oil on canvas, ca. 1785-1787

Hoppner, John;  Isabella Seymour Conway, Viscountess Beauchamp, later Marchioness of Hertford. The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens. Oil on canvas, ca. 1789.

Hoppner, John; The Honourable Elizabeth Ingram (1762-1817); Leeds Museums and Galleries. Oil on canvas, ca. 1789. 

These are just three of the dozens and dozens of "picture hats" or "Gainsborough hats" or "garden hats" that you can find in 18th century portraiture. Take a tumble down that particular rabbit hole and you will see outsized confections covered in ribbons, bows, feathers, and flowers. They're absolutely delectable and I want to copy every single one. But, first, I had to test and see that I could figure out how to make a relatively basic portrait hat that worked for me in proportion and style.

I had a goal: make a decent Portrait Hat using only materials I already had on hand. I needed to add the requisite structure  to get that jaunty brim, add appropriate decoration, and try to discipline myself to take my time and do it well. I've decorated dozens of hats before for various projects, but I had never attempted this one, as the time frame was beyond the 1781 cutoff at my last museum. 

So, to shop my stash: I had a hat blank of a large size with a reasonably deep crown that I got from Aliexpress a yeer or so ago. I couldn't really use as a bergère without cutting it down to size and wrecking the structural integrity of the hat, and missing the opportunity to live my best Big Hat Life. I picked off the poly grosgrain ribbon and steamed the hat flat. 

I knew I had enough millinery wire, cotton tape, scrap linen. I had a roll of black silk satin ribbon that was scarcely used, and was sure there were enough silk ribbons or cabbage in my stash that I would be able to finish the project in a weekend. So, here's my inspiration-- and onward we go!

Angelica Kauffman; Lady Elizabeth Christiana Hervey, Lady Elizabeth Foster, later Duchess of Devonshire (1759-1824), 1786. National Trust. Oil on canvas; 1786.

Millinery wire held to the brim edge with clips

This is attached to the outer edge with a blanket stitch in heavy thread.

I strove for a 1/4" or 6mm stitch length.

Fully wired brim! The wire isn't noticeable here, but I wanted to hide it under a black silk binding. But there's another step between wire and ribbon - mulling! 

Before we mull, I decided to throw in a super simple crown lining with an adjustable drawstring using a scrap of lightweight linen check and a bit of cotton tape.

Now, the scratchy straw won't irritate my skin or snag my hair, and I can ensure the hat fits exactly as I want on my dressed hair.

With a gentle bend to the wire, the brim very quickly takes the shape I'm trying to emulate: a gentle curve to shade the face, and a deeper angled curve to drape over the back of the neck.

It's coming together!

I used a 1/2" or 12mm cotton tape wrapped around the wired edge of the hat as mulling, which is a sort of interlining used to smooth the edges of buckram, straw, or wire.

I was about to begin to stitch the mulling tape on, but Eskil decided to intervene for some cuddles.

Snoring cat tax! 

I did the mulling by doing a running stitch through all layers, which saved heaps of time. I wasn't worried about this being perfect or hidden stitches, as it will all be covered over by the black satin ribbon.

At this stage, I'm feeling quite confident that this is going to work. :)

Now, to bind the mulled edge with black silk satin ribbon. Usually, it's easier to use ribbon or fabric on the bias when navigating curves, as straight-of-grain tends to buckle. However, I felt that if I went slowly enough and worked the ribbon with my fingers to stretch and ease it just right, I could make this work. For reference, it took me about an hour to do this around the brim of the hat, just sewing the top edge with a spaced backstitch. I tried to keep my stitches just inside the edge of the satin ribbon so they'd be as invisible as possible.

Once I finished the top edge, I used heaps of wonderclips to manage the fullness of the straight ribbon around the curved brim. I wanted to avoid any snags or pulls that metal pins might make in my otherwise smooth ribbon. 

The wonderclips were super useful to generally manage the ribbon, but it was using tiny whipstitches to attach the ribbon to the underside of the brim that helped manage the curve and lay flat and smooth.

The hat, bound! It may not look like much compared to how I started, but this represents several hours of patient hand work and multiple painstaking circuits of the brim.

I am particularly proud of the way I managed to blend the end of the ribbon. 

Now that the brim was bound and the crown lined, I wanted to start to trim the hat. I rummaged through basket of ribbons and found a short length of thin black silk ribbon. Perfect!

I stitched the overlapping ends of the ribbon to the back of the hat (where it will be covered over by hat trimmings) but then used pins at the compass points of the crown to anchor the ribbon in place so it did not droop or slip.

The inspiration image I wanted to use had what could be a large black structred bow on the side back of the hat. I have some black silk taffeta yardage, but I wanted to use up small scraps as much as possible for this project. I found an offcut piece about 6" wide (15cm) and 10-14" (25-35cm) long, pressed it, and then ripped it in half to make two "ribbon" sections about 3" (7.5cm) wide

Then I hemmed the "ribbon" pieces so they wouldn't fray.

I used some gathering stitches to arrange the ribbons into puffs so that I can emulate the look of one of the full, multi-loop bows so popular in the 18th century. The longer scrap, I stitched into a loop and planned that this would be the more 3D aspect of the bow. I cut the ends of the shorter piece on a diagonal to prevent fraying. This piece would be the base of the bow. 

I fussed with the two pieces; when pinned together, you cannot tell that these are two separate scraps of fabric!

Non-bow side.

With the bow!

The hat on a lampstand so you can really see the curve of the brim.  It doesn't look as large as life here, but I'm really pleased with the simplicity and elegance of this hat!

Look at this sweet and sassy bow! 

I love love love ginormous 18th century hats. 

I feel pretty good about how this concept worked. I also feel now more prepared to take on a larger challenge- a taller crown, a buckram form, feather or flower plumes, and so on- and understand how to manage my time and effort. 

Now to make a suitable 1780s gown and coiffure to suit this hat! (Is it weird to start an ensemble with the accessories and work backwards to the garment?)