A Witchy Bonnet

As you may know, I am a huge Harry Potter fan and like making witch costumes. Well, mostly it’s my real clothes that I combine in somewhat more witchy ways or add witchy details to. I’ve long been wanting a witch’s hat to wear and to display on my bookcase along with our other HP inspired things. I made a nice green witch’s hat a few years ago, but it didn’t fit so I gave it to my Mum – she loves green, and is at least as big a Harry Potter fan as I am, as you can tell by her display here.

 

 

I love blue, so I knew that was the colour I wanted for my hat. I also love bonnets more than hats – they frame the face nicely – so I decided to do a witch’s bonnet, with a brim resembling those of the 1830’s, but with the typical pointy crown. I used wool, left over from making the Pre-Raphaelite Medieval-ish Dress for the outside, a cotton blend for lining the crown and cotton upcycled from an old dress as interlining. This was a no-buy project. First, I made a pattern from newspaper, and but for one or two small alterations it came out nearly perfect at the first try. Love it when that happens!

 

 

I did not have buckram, or even millinery wire, so I quilted the brim to give it some stability, and enclosed a sad old piece of Rigeline around the outside of it – I was glad too finally get some use out of that less than ideal piece of boning.

 

 

I sewed the crown down in creases to get the proper witchy look and trimmed it with a bias strip from old PJ bottoms. I am elated with how it came out, just as I envisioned it!

 

 

I later added some ostrich feathers too.

 

 

I got it finished in time for Halloween and went out for a photo shoot – lots of nice, witchy pictures there. I’m so in love with this bonnet it’s ridiculous.