The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-05-30
WON EMS HAT MAKING
MANY LANDS DRAWN UPON FOX
:,.-.... IT'S MATERIAL.
Varied Brnids of Which Women3
Hats Are Made and Their various
Sources of Supply-Ihe Hand NO-
ven Braids of Italy-Proccsses OF
Hat Manufacture.

! What the making of toys Is to the
people of certain parts OF Germany
the plating of braids for hats is TO
the people dwelling In certain parts
Of Italy, and as in Germany whole
families or all the people in a dis
trict may all their lives be engaged
in the making of some particular
kind of toy peculiar to that district,
so In Italy whole families, and 1t
may be succeeding generations, are
engaged always in plating the same
kind of braid.
The hat braids produced in Italy,
which are largely for women's hats
are named after the cities or dis
tricts whence they come. Thus there
is a Milan braid, a Tuscan braid, u
Carpi braid, and so on.
Milan braids may vary in hne-
ness and quality, but they are all
alike in their characteristic weave.
The art of making Milan braid IS
taught by mother to her children;
who in turn hand it down to their
children; in this family they make
always that one kind of braid.
The braids of finer quality are
made at home by the older ana more
experienced workers OF the tamlly,
those of poorer quality by the child
ren in their odd hours or, 1t may De,
on their way to and from school,,
Where these braids are made child
rem may be seen walking along the
streets or roads plating straw braid
as they 20. as children might be seen
In the streets here knitting through
a spool the woven CORDS when taey
use, when they have made enough
of It. perhaps, for rcins to play h2r'a
with or which they may make inJo
bracelets or neck chains or fashion
into a lamp mat. But while suci
knitting as is done here Is done
chiefly for amusement, the hat braid
that the children in Italy plat In TINS
way goes to swell the total Of the
fainily's production of braid, which
In due time, with that Of many
other families in the region, will be
gathered up and taken to one or an
other of the varions Italian cities,
which are at once centres of the col
lection OF such braids and markets
whence they are distributed through
out the world.
Switzerland and Belgium are the
chief producers OF various fancy hat
braids for women's hats, bralds of
silk and of other materials, being
mostly made by machinery. There
are now made also fancy hat braids
In this country.
Fancy hat braids are made of
variety Of widths and weaves. There
are hat braids made of hemp fibre,
and hat braids In which silk Is used
In combination with other materials.
There Is woven hat braid made OF
pyroxylin, gun cotton material,
looking as here used not unlike
horsehair; and among the braids of
recent years is one that Is made OF
horsehair and that is called Neapoll-
tan, though 1t Is not made in Naples.
; The hair for the making of horse
, hair braids, which are produced in
, variety of weaves and coiors, Is
gathered in Austria and Bavaria.
, 1t is bleached and dyed, and mada
/, up into braid in Switzerland and
> Belgium. Horsehair is fine and costly
. braid and lighter than straw.
Womens hats are sometimes made
, all in one piece, but commonly in
two parts, the crown and the brim,
separately, which are later sewed to-
gether; this because the head size,
as the opening in the brim for the
, top of the head is called, may be
| Ha a ipciIn n tho
or because the base of the crown may
be smaller than its top; women's
hats are made in many shapes,
with the braid, of whatever kind
d It may be, on a reel at her side, the
operator sits at a power driven sew
ing machine. For the very center Of
the top OF the crown she draws the
braid around for two or three turns
anl saws it with her own fingers,
and then she starts on the machine;
and now under her expert guidance
and manipulation the top Of the
crown expands rapidly. On a table
In front of her she has a block of
the shape of the hat crown she is to
= make-a crown form Of this sort Is
called a block, and brim form a
. fange.
While many hats are thus shaped
and ironed by hand on wooden blocks
and fanges, some are shaped and
pressed in hydraulic presses, In which
the blocks and flanges are metallic;
and then there are some hat bodies
, that are not put into their final
shapes in either of such ways, but
; which are sized and finished in the
shape of ball cone, these to be
gathered up and fashioned into their
final shape by a skilled and artistic
designer.