Green regency hat

If you happen to find a woven golf visor straw hat, buy ten of them, they make lovely regency hats! I found one with a hatband matching my dress which I hastily decorated for a first outing, then took apart, shaped properly and decorated anew.

The crown is rather flat, as it's designed to be worn as sun protection and flat on your head. I beribboned it and during the first trip discovered a few flaws due to this shape.

It doesn't sit on your head tight enough, and tends to slip up or down depending on where on the back of your head your hairdo is. Plus it just looks like a golf visor hat repurposed. So once back, I set myself to do the thing properly. Which meant stripping it of five hours' worth of hand-stitched-on trimming, moistening the crown (spray with water, inside and outside) and putting it into a flower pot for shaping :D You take what you can get... Make sure to remove all ribbons, sweatbands etc., you want just the plain straw weave.

Let dry over night and you'll get a nice, cone-shaped crown, still flexible enough to fit to your head. The bottom of the crown can remain round or you can flatten it once the actual size has been determined.

Put this on as you would the finished hat, if possible with updone hair so you discover where it sits perfectly. Sew a plain cotton ribbon around right where the brim starts to retain this size. If you like, you can flatten the back of the crown by moistening it again and pressing it flat. I just put it on the floor and put a bottle into the crown. Simple as that.

In the meantime, buy a properly shaped hat at a reenactment because you lose your patience and need sun protection...

I sewed the previous green hatband back on (invisible stitches), as well as the satin ribbons. All that's missing now are the proper pictures ;)