Marie Antoinette

Archive for February, 2008

Question: How to make a marie antoinette tricorn hat?

I really need help. I want to make a marie antoinette style tricorn hat to go with my costume. But I'm not sure how. Any how-to's? Or instructions?

Answer: The tricorn hat is just a plain broad-brimmed hat with the brim bent up to the crown. If you can get such a hat in felt, just tinker at bending the brim - first try three equilateral bends; then try folding up the back with two smaller left-front and right-front folds; until you get an effect you like. You can fix the hat either with felt stiffener or simply by stitching the brim to the crown.

If you can't get or can't afford a real felt hat, cut out a big circle of black card or cartridge paper to experiment with the "cocking" of the hat brim. Once you have got it the way you want it, at a pinch you can make a crown with a piece of black fabric.

An 18th-century tricorn hat would have had a cockade over the left eye, made out of a piece of ribbon pleated tightly into a circle - that's easily done. There might be a gilt button or (for a lady) a brooch right in the middle of the cockade, and for a lady there might be a plume of ostrich feathers fixed behind it.

Costumes Of Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette's lullaby