Alameda High School - Acorn Yearbook (Alameda, CA)

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Millinery---A Practical Course N THE Millinery Class the first thing I made was a model hat of blue out- ing flannel by which I learned the different stitches necessary, such as the blind, catch, overcast and blanket stitch. I also learned to accustom my hands to use buckram and wire, and the art of covering a hat. My next step was to apply the stitches and work learned from experiment with the model hat to a hat which would fit me. I made my design, cut my pattern of heavy paper, and worked over it until the shape suited me. After the pattern was made I cut it from buckram and wired it, and bound the edges with crinoline so the wire would not wear the velvet with which I intended to cover my hat. After covering the hat, I put the necessary trimming in place and lined the crown, thus finishing my winter hat. The next task was to make sample bows, which I fashioned from paper cambric. Although there are many kinds of bows, the types only were prac- ticed and these were made as carefully as if of expensive ribbon. The next work was to make flowers of velvet, satin and other materials. After much experimenting I made folds and hems, which are necessary to know in order to sew two pieces of material together or to finish the brim edge of a hat. The last work of the term was braid-work, and to learn this I made a small buckram shape and covered it with silk braid. Many pretty hats were the result of the term’s work in Millinery. One of these was a brown velours of the Puritan shape with three bands of gros- grain ribbon around the side crown and a lighter brown ostrich fancy in front. Another was a large, white velvet, picture hat trimmed with brown fur, and a fur rosette with a flower in the center placed on each side. Another more simple hat was made of black taffeta underlined with rose taffeta and with a single large pink velvet rose as its only trimming. These are examples of the many pretty hats made in class. “Is millinery a practical course?” I was asked. I consider it one of the most practical courses in the school. One learns to make hats, to choose becoming and appropriate styles to suit the wearer, the season and the occa- sion, and to appreciate the cost of materials, thus making possible a future economy. The cost of the hats displayed at the November Millinery Exhibit in Dr. Thompson’s office ranged from $2.50 to $5.00, making an average cost of materials $3.75. In these days of arbitrary prices and quick changes in fashions one can seldom buy a suitable hat at so small a cost in even the least pretentious millinery store. —Alma Halcrow.

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Making Hats for the Exhibition of Millinery

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Office Appliances