Spoon Bonnets

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These bonnets both have a cotton netting ruffle on the inside of the bonnet and are decorated with flowers, berries and ribbon. One of the bonnets you see has a pheasant feather on one side. I got my inspiration from engravings of ladies' fashion magazines of the mid 19th century. Bonnets were probably one of the most common types of headwear worn in the 1860s. These are spoon bonnets, which if you look at them on the side, slightly resemble the shape of a spoon. As the war years progressed, the spoon bonnet grew higher. The higher it got, the more decorations were added to the inside of the bonnet. At the end and after the war, the bonnet started to decrease in height again. Although, lower brimmed bonnets from the 1850s and early 1860s were still worn, they just weren't as fashionable as the spoon bonnet seen in ladies' magazines of the era. 

The spoon bonnets pictured here are made to sit on top of a low chignon (bun). They have wide ribbon ties and "anchor ties" that are sewn behind the ribbon ties. Anchor ties are narrow ribbons that are tied before you tie the wide fancy ribbons so that most of the stress of the bonnet would be put on the anchor ties. This allowed the wider ribbons to be tied nicely rather than having to tie them in a tight and unbecoming bow. Sometimes if the ribbons were especially stunning and the lady wanted to show them off, she might only tie the anchor ties and leave the ribbons hanging.