The Snow Beast: Silk Organza Cap

Years ago, a reenacting friend and I made caps together. I made a little, barely-there slip of a cap that turned out sadly too small for my mess of thick hair. She made a heavily ruffled, double-layered creation. It was really cute. Until she put it on. Then it became known as The Snow Beast. We called it this because a) it was very large b) it was very white c) it looked like it was attempting to devour her head.

I had forgotten the lesson of the Snow Beast.

Until this weekend.

I ordered a yard of silk organza from Dharma Trading Company to play with creating caps. It's gorgeous stuff--sheer, delicate but stiff hand, a lovely pure cool white. It was easy enough to put together--the one tricky bit is that everything will show through the sheer fabric, so I had to plan ahead to work over the same stitching rows for each point in the construction process. For instance, I stitched the band to the ruffle over the same line that the ruffle was gathered. This wasn't difficult, but something I almost forgot to consider--so, word to the wise.

I went easy and only did one ruffle. Because, though I had forgotten the lesson of the Snow Beast, a leeriness of ruffles has followed me ever since.

The cap turned out nicely, especially under a straw hat.


Excuse the maniacal laughter--I have no idea what I was talking to the other ladies about, but I'm sure it was not nearly as funny as my ridiculous face in this picture.

But without the hat--the Snow Beast emerged.


It's kind of a lot of cap. I'm kind of ok with it. I need to refine the ruffles in the back--I had tied my little ribbon on a bit oddly so they scrunched up. But a Lot of Cap is very fashionable for the late 18th century, so I think I'll keep this one in the rotation.

And, since organza is such fun, I'm trying Round Two of bitsy slip-of-a-cap, this time with organza and a larger back for my mess of hair.