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atherleisureI made up the bulk of a fontange/commode headdress to go with my 1690's/1700's mantua last fall using the information here, but I really wasn't happy with it because it wouldn't stand up very straight at all. When I didn't wear the mantua to the Georgian picnic in Dallas in November, I put the fontange away for a bit. Last weekend I finally had the chance to wear the mantua so I finally got around to fixing the fontange.
I cut a wire about 1.5 yd long, bent back the ends slightly, and bent it so that I had three points, each 5"-6" long. I doesn't want to lay flat neatly by itself, but the picture gives the general idea of what it looks like. Imagine the bottoms of the points not crossing each other.
Then I used an awl to open up three small holes in the binding of the pleated, stand-up part and slipped the wires up between the pleats.
Once it's pushed all the way up, the wires are held in place and make a decent headband shape. I tacked the pleats close to the top of the wire points. Then the ends are pushed down under the hair and pinned in place. That kept it from falling flat on my head, though it still leans forward as you see in period images.
For the next time, I think I'm going to tack the pleats together at the top since it had a tendency to fan out a bit.
One thing that I hadn't foreseen is that it tends to bob when you nod your head. I guess nodding wasn't much of a thing then - that or waving linen and lace was common!
I cut a wire about 1.5 yd long, bent back the ends slightly, and bent it so that I had three points, each 5"-6" long. I doesn't want to lay flat neatly by itself, but the picture gives the general idea of what it looks like. Imagine the bottoms of the points not crossing each other.
Then I used an awl to open up three small holes in the binding of the pleated, stand-up part and slipped the wires up between the pleats.
Once it's pushed all the way up, the wires are held in place and make a decent headband shape. I tacked the pleats close to the top of the wire points. Then the ends are pushed down under the hair and pinned in place. That kept it from falling flat on my head, though it still leans forward as you see in period images.
For the next time, I think I'm going to tack the pleats together at the top since it had a tendency to fan out a bit.
One thing that I hadn't foreseen is that it tends to bob when you nod your head. I guess nodding wasn't much of a thing then - that or waving linen and lace was common!
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