This black silk of this cottage bonnet is drawn over eleven canes. The bonnet is completely intact, retaining all it's interior appointments. It's rather small but is large enough for the full-size mannequin head above.
The fabric is cut on the straight grain and fitted to the back with tiny tucks. The curtain features 3 tucks made from separate strips of bias fabric. The bow is of the same silk as the bonnet, bound with very narrow self-fabric bias strips.
Here you see the bonnet "cap" consisting of gathered cotton lace attached to a strip of cotton bobbinet and the open-weave headliner, placed to protect the hair from the buckram and the buckram from the hair. This liner could be replaced if it became too soiled.
The cap was so-called because it mimicked the frilly cap ladies had worn under their bonnets in prior years. The use of this kind of cap continued into the 1860's.
The buckram of the crown sections ends about 1/2" in front of the headliner (the light fabric.) Wires extend from the edge of the buckram to the brim edge wire over which the fabric of the crown covering is folded as a facing/lining.
Here you can see a band of stiff cotton net, folded over a strip of what appears to be "bonnet wire," a narrow piece of cotton tape with (in this case) 3 very narrow gauge wires woven lengthwise into the fabric. This net is disguised somewhat by a folded strip of silk tacked on to rest in front of the net. This addition served to keep the bonnet in place.
Here the bonnet is flipped upside down to show the underside of the curtain. As with virtually all bonnets of the mid-19th century, the curtain is stiffened with a lining of cotton bobbinet.
Here is a similar cottage bonnet, forming a tunnel around the head.
The cottage shape is still in fashion.
