Lace for hats

[michaelsbagley]

Lately my thoughts have been turned to my hats...

I've started to think about finishing at least one of them instead of leaving them all raw. As far as I can figure, lace most commonly was used to edge hats (although re-enactors also use thin strips of fabric, which may be correct as well). There are many threads about hats, but I couldn't find one that focussed in on lace...

In shopping through some of the "suttler" web sites, it seems that "lace for hats" is little more than twill tape/edge binding, at a width and thickness more ideal for hats than clothing. Is this correct? Or is this twill tape thing just a "suttler-ism"? Prior to my looking into this, I had always thought that lace was lace, and lace for hats was the same as the lace that is used to edge clothing (fancy stuff), but the hat variety would just be thinner and of a width more appropriate to hat edging.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[HarborMaster]

Perhaps grosgrain ribbon ., this comes in differant widths and colors and is easily folded.

[Kate Souris]

http://www.wmboothdraper.com/

This website....under the link for tapes and lace. It's the only inkling I could find in regards to "lace" on hats.

http://www.woodedhamlet.com/tapes_braids/w...sted_twill.html This too. Although it really doesn't have any references per say.

As a side note- grosgrain ribbon is relatively difficult to get smooth on the edge of something round...because it's polyester. Worsted wool stretches nicely to fit things like hat edging, which is likely why it might have been used.

Edited to add: I have never seen a grosgrain ribbon that was anything but polyester, that's not to say that someone out there hasn't made it out of a natural fiber....but if they have, I haven't seen it in looking at many different ribbon sources. :)

[Gentleman of Fortune]

grosgrain, historically, was silk, and sometimes worsted wool. If you search for "silk grosgrain" you might come up with something, but usually its poly ribbon.

I have my justaucorps made from 100% grosgrain silk... I got it from a going out of business fabric shop in London for about $80 a yard in 1999.

Worsted wool hat braid is good, but so would grosgrain silk ribbon.

MB has some mad skills, can't wait to see what he cooks up!

GOF

[Cheeky Actress]

In regard to Silk Grosgrain...if you can find a distributor of such a thing…let me know. I’ve from many suppliers of Reenacting Textiles that such an item does not exist anymore.

I would love to prove them wrong! Anyone?

[Gentleman of Fortune]

are you asking for silk grosgrain ribbon, or silk grosgrain fabric?

I have to say, that when I made my first Justaucorps, I looked high and low for Silk Grosgrain... and it took well over a year of searching.

But this company USUALLY has some grosgrain silk fabric in stock..

Quartermasterie

The Chatelaine

Russetts, 7 Smallworth Common

Garboldisham, Norfolk, IP22 2QW

Tel: 01953 681441

email: thechatelaine@tesco.net

Haberdashery & silks, including damask and satin

They don't have a web site that i know of, but they buy remnants and such from specialist weavers in the UK. I bought some blue and red grosgrain silk from them for another project i am working on.

Send them an e-mail, and they can hook you up.

[Rumba Rue]

What you want is called 'petershim ribbon', it can be found at milinary stores, probably online.

The ribbon is similar to grosgrain, but of a heavier construction and defineatly period.

[verymerryseamstress]

Regimental/military lace suppliers:

Coughlin & Upton

Wooded Hamlet

ggggoodwin

metallic laces - this looks to be a great site

more metallic lace

How to apply it:

tutorial on applying regimental lace

If you Google "regimental lace" (in quotes) you'll get lots of hits.

Hope this helps!