hats off

Although Caroline Ingalls braided her straw hats out of oat straw in Little House in the Big Woods, rye seems to have been the fiber of choice. It was sown in the fall and harvested the following June. Tied in loose bundles, the stalks lost their heads to the chopping block, then were scalded to release the green sap. After drying in the sun for several days, the straw was ready to use.

Massachusetts was the center of the "straw bonnet" industry for well over a hundred years, and it's possible that Caroline Ingalls was simply continuing an art that had been passed down from her Massachusetts ancestors. Even in traditional straw bonnet making, ladies taught their friends and daughters various braids and sewing techniques, and there was a time when the manufacture of braided straw for hats was purely a domestic affair, even if it went to the factory for finishing. Children usually did the cutting, boiling, and laying-to-dry, then everyone took a turn at braiding the straw, which, as Laura Ingalls Wilder mentioned, had been soaking in a tub in order to soften it. If such braid went to a factory, it would be sorted into latticed bins for finishing, but in many cases the process continued in the home, with the braid lapped and spirals sewn into hats, shaping them over plaster forms for a proper fit. Hats in this stage were further smoked, bleached, dried, blocked, and finished, a process Caroline Ingalls abbreviated at home.

Laura Ingalls Wilder describes Ma's straw braids of seven and nine strands of small or large straws, plus a braid that is beautifully "notched all along the edges," like the one shown at left. While there are many different ways to braid both seven and nine strands, one option is shown above. Check out THIS page for links to straw braiding and hat-making pages. If you forgot to plant your rye this fall and will be ready to braid your own hat this spring, you can order braided straw HERE.

If Ma made such beautiful hats, and Laura learned how to do it, and Pa grew oats in De Smet, why didn't Laura or Ma make the rough straw poke-bonnet for Laura in These Happy Golden Years? Or did they...?

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- posted by pioneergirl at 10:14 PM