Making a hat is a not for the impatient. It involves planning and hours of work, most of which is not highly skilled and somewhat repetitive. I suppose it could be unpleasant if one found it boring; but I find it to be a relaxing and enjoyable task which yields a very satisfying result.
The type of hat we are making is constructed by plaiting [pronounced “platting” in England] a long plait or braid of straw, and then sewing it in a spiral to make a hat of whatever shape you want.
Planning: For this hat, we will be using spelt. Most older wheats are said to be fine for straw work (newer wheats have stems which are too short for efficient use) and some people will also use rye or oat straw. Barley is said to be too brittle. I like spelt because it is tall, which means that you have to add new straws less frequently as you work; and it has a beautiful light golden colour.
Spelt, like many wheats and rye, is a fall-planted grain. You will plant it in the fall, harvest it the next summer, and can begin plaiting shortly after harvest. Making a hat requires around 20-25 yards/metres of plait; each yard uses approximately 55 straws. To grow a hat (with some margin for error), I would guess that you need to plant a patch of spelt which is about 45 square feet/5 square metres.
Growing Straw: Prepare your patch of ground in early fall, making a fairly fine seedbed. In late September, ideally the day before a good rain is forecast, scatter your spelt seed over the patch, or plant in rows spaced 7-9”/16-22 cm apart and rake lightly to bury it 1-2”/2.5-5 cm. The goal is to let the spelt germinate and get a few inches tall before winter stops its growth. The young spelt plants will remain dormant all winter and start growing again as soon as it warms up in spring.
The plants will rapidly get taller, send out side shoots (called “tillers”) and grow heads. In early-mid July, start watching closely as they mature. Each plant will turn from green to gold. If allowed to dry down all the way (to the stage when farmers would combine it for grain) the straw will become too brittle to use well. Cut your spelt when the joint or node on the stem just below the head is green but the stem around it is golden. You want to cut the plants near the ground to make as much usable straw as possible, and try not to bend or break stems while handling them. Let the plants dry for 10-14 days. While they can be made into a stook and left to cure in your garden, I would probably dry them on a porch or indoors, simply because rain can cause discolouring of the straw.
The grain should be mature enough that, when it is done drying, it can be hulled and eaten or saved for replanting.
Plaiting: First prepare the spelt. Cut each straw just above each joint. The first joint (to which the head is attached) is usually too thin for plaiting; I often use it for ornamental straw weaving, with or without the heads attached. The second joint is the best for plaiting; the third is usable, but is often shorter and more brittle, and so I would only use it if I have to.
A leaf grows up from each joint; remove these. If you have cut your straws above the joint they peel off easily. Back in the 1840s when straw hats were big business in the UK, straw workers would use special tools to sort straws by diameter and split them; since I am a mere Canadian peasant farmer I use my straws whole and don’t worry too much about using ones of variable diameter.
Before you begin plaiting you must soak the straw so that it becomes more flexible. I submerge the straw (with a flat rock on top to hold it down) in a basin of cold water for a few minutes, maybe 10, and then use it. If it breaks across the stem when you try to braid it, soak it some more; if it splits down the length ignore it – straw isn’t strong that way.
If after more soaking your straw persists in breaking, two things may be wrong: you may have soaked it too long, which weakens it; dry it and try again later. Or you may have harvested it when it was too mature, in which case there is nothing you can do but replant your seed and try again next year. That is why you should watch it carefully as it matures.
Begin your plait by tying the joint ends of seven straws together and fanning them out facing away from you in two groups at 90° from each other – three on the left and four on the right. In the days when child labour was still common, plaits like this were taught to 4-year-olds using simple rhymes to help them remember how to work the plait. For this plait, the 7-straw flat or Dunstable plait, the rhyme was “Over one, under two, pull it tight and that will do” which pretty much summarizes it. Take the
outside straw on the side with four straws and bend it up towards
you and over so that it crosses its fellow straws at a 90o angle. Lay
it over the straw immediately next to it and tuck it under the next
two, pulling it back firmly against the inside straw on the left. Now
you have four straws on the left and three on the right; take the outside
straw from the left repeat. Crush the straws flat as you go, pulling them
all tightly together to make a sort of straw ribbon about 3⁄4”/2 cm wide
(Expect the first few handspans you make to look poor and uneven; you
should soon improve).
When you reach the point where a straw can only cross the braid once more and will not be long enough to cross again, lay a new straw on top of it with the joint extending just past the edge of the plait. Plait the two straws together until the old one runs out and continue. You will find it easier to manage your plait if you use straws of different lengths so that you never have two run out at the same time.
A hat uses 20-25 yards/metres of plait (I measure in armspans, so I’m not sure how much I use). When you think you have enough, trim off all the sticking-out ends where you added new straws.
Sewing the Hat: You will need to soak the plait just as you soaked the straw before sewing. Thread a needle with heavy thread or thin string; I have always used the cotton string from feed sacks for this. You stat at the top of the crown of the hat and work down, making the top of the crown, then the sides, and then the brim. Take the end of your plait; keeping it flat bend it into a spiral, covering the end (so it is on the inside of the hat). As you work, tuck the plait under the edge of the previous coil so that as
you work the coils of plait overlap like shingles on a roof. Sew the plait by stitching trait through the edges of both plaits. Make the hat into the shape you like by altering the tension you apply to the plait as you sew, pulling it tighter to make the hat narrow in and pushing it back slightly to make it stay flat. I know of no tricks for getting your hat the right size, other than trying it on repeatedly as you go. When you are satisfied with the size of your hat, cut off the plait, tuck the end all the way under the previous coil, and sew it in place. Your hat is ready to wear!
There are, or course, lots of variations you can do to get a different product. You can use a different plait; I have heard of 11- and 13-straw flat plaits (which use the same technique but with more straws – you can try it with your 1st joint straws if you like), English Pearl, Batswing and others. There are also as many shapes possible as a milliner can dream up. And if you are interested in ornamental straw work, you can decorate your hat with all manner of things made from straw.
Some Historical Notes on the Technique
Straw hats have long been functional dress for commoners. But during the 1840s in the United Kingdom they became quite fashionable. As demand for them increased, it fueled a cottage industry in those parts of England best suited to growing wheat. Straw merchants would give straw to plaiters, mostly women and children (men were considered too clumsy to make plait, except for some of the simplest and crudest plaits – like this one). The plaiter would plait the straw and sell it back to the merchant, who would send it to a milliner, who would sew it into the finished bonnet or hat.
At the time, plaiting was socially disruptive. Due to the inflated demand, women who plaited could earn more at home than their husbands could earn working as farm labourers. This caused tension in some households. Advocates for the growing public school movement also struggled with parents who preferred their children to be earning money plaiting rather than sitting in school. Some also stated that women spent so much time plaiting that they were neglecting their housekeeping, claiming that some plaiters’ houses had several inches of cut-off straw ends covering the floors!
By the 1870s, the fashion industry began to move on. Increasing globalization also allowed English plait merchants to buy from Tuscany, where the climate produced superior straw and plaiters could be paid less.
1. If after more soaking your straw persists in breaking, two things may be wrong: you may have soaked it too long, which weakens it; dry it and try again later. Or you may have harvested it when it was too mature, in which case there is nothing you can do but replant your seed and try again next year. That is why you should watch it carefully as it matures.