Martha Canby’s Cap: Quaker Lappet

Another of those rare birds: a cap with provenance. This one, held at Winterthur Museum, #1982.0064, was part of a group of needlework passed down through the Canby-Ferris family. The note with this cap reads, “Great-great grandmother Martha Canby’s cap – died 1826.” She was married in 1774, but no birth date is included. That puts the majority of her life before 1800, and no construction details make me think otherwise, so I accept this as a possible 18th C cap.

The Original

Martha’s cap is a well crafted example of what later became Quaker fossilized fashion in caps. A simple lappet, with no lace or froufrou. Made in three pieces: caul, headpiece, ruffle. The only gather is around the tip of the lappet where a short tape ties it under her chin; the caul is gathered with “kissing strings.” The ruffle skinnies as it goes around, and ends about 1 3/8″ back along the caul, but doesn’t wrap around the back.

18th C woman's cap: lappet with ruffle gathered only at the tips. Long strings gather the nape. — Winterthur #1982.0064 is a simple lappet of Quaker provenance, beautifully crafted.

Every edge is first finished with a rolled hem. The bottom of the caul has a channel just big enough for the long strings that gather it. I hadn’t figured it out yet, but I think these are attached on either side after going through the channel. So they criss-cross in there, and pull at the opposite side. They come out where the caul and headpiece meet under her ear, on top of the ruffle. These strings aren’t tapes; they are small round strings. (Is that a datable clue?)

The top of the caul is whip gathered across the top 6″, then whipped to the headpiece along the rest of the join.

The ruffle goes from 1 1/2″ at the CF, and gradually skinnies down to 1″ at the turn, and 1/2″ by the time it gets to the end. I’ve pondered that before. But this is the most extreme example so far. The front of the ruffle seems to stay on the straight grain, so the difference happens on the join. You can see my confusion in my notes. I kept marking the grain as straight, but the width changed; what was changing? the ruffle? the headpiece? Answer: ruffle. The two finished edges of ruffle and headpiece are whipped together, and the seam is immeasureably small. Go ahead, zoom in on that seam. I wish my photos were clearer. I’d like to get another look at this cap.

The headpiece has a really narrow point, only 1/4″ across at the skinniest. The point is reinforced to hold that 5″ long tape. I’m not sure I’m looking forward to trying to reproduce that very small detailed work. The back edge of the lappet, from tip to under the ear, has a nice curve; sometimes that line is rougher, or straighter.

0verall, Martha’s cap is 11 1/4′ tip to stern, 8 1/5″ at its widest point laid flat.

Three edges come together in perfect harmony, showing the perfection common in 18th C stitches. — Close up of Winterthur #1982.0064 shows the join of the caul and the headpiece. Each edge is rolled minutely before being sewn together.

With one lappet folded back, the turn of the ruffle and the skinniness of the lappet are visible. — Lappet showing where tape is sewn on to reinforced edge. The pin holds the museum’s ID tag.

How did they get that ruffle to lay so easily around that tight a turn? — The other side of the lappet. If only I knew which was the right side… Winterthur # 1982.0064

Questions that remain

My notes say, “Tape sewn to outside,” yet the picture shows clearly that the tape is on the inside. That’s because I was confused with this one, whether it was being stored inside out or not. That isn’t unheard of; I’d already seen a couple like that. 18th C seams can be so incredibly perfectly minutely made that you really have to look hard to determine inside from out. I think I had decided this one was inside out. You look and see if you can tell — again I wish my pictures were clearer. I only have an average camera, and lighting isn’t always photo-friendly.

Have I ranted enough about the sewing here? This one reminds me of the fineness of Mary Alsop’s cap. I’ve wondered if the edges I’ve seen are really selvages. That is, what I am seeing is not two edges rolled, then whipped, together, but two selvages whipped together. How could I ever tell? But this example, where the inside edge of the ruffle is NOT along the grain, sort of proves that edge, at least, is a hand-rolled edge.

The Reproduction

I haven’t reproduced this one yet. You try it, and share your attempt with us, OK?

My Notes

Click here for notes: notes wint 1982.0064

Thank Yous and Permissions

Linda Eaton, Senior Curator of Textiles, gave me permission to discuss this artifact here. Lea Lane met me at the museum that day and helped me with questions afterward.

Photos by the author.

Other Related Scholarship

This cap appeared in Winthurtur’s exhibit, “Who’s Your Daddy?” The Exhibit Guide, Page 4, includes this cap, and references Martha’s ownership.

Final.

Sisters: Two Lappets Side-by-side

I took a little break because Christmas, and because I have blogged all the caps I have reproduced. After this, I will go on to describe other caps I’ve seen, but I haven’t sewn those yet. I’ll add repro notes, if I sew them, later.

Two 18th C caps side-by-side from the Smithsonian. — Smithsonian 6608-A and 6608-B are similarly constucted. 6608-A is dated 1775-1799; 6608-B is dated 1790-1810.

These two caps, from the Smithsonian, #6608-A and # 6700-B, looked so similar to me that I have always thought of them as sisters. They were accessioned close together, too, part of the Copp Collection. Maybe they were acquired side-by-side by the original collector, big sister, little sister, from the same family?

The cap is housed in the textiles collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.* The records for these items are not online.

The Originals

Both of these caps are constructed in the typical three-piece pattern of an 18th C lappet. A semicircular caul, gathered at the base with a string and at the CF with whipped gathers; a skinny headpiece with lappets; and a ruffle, gathered at the point of the lappet. These ruffles go all the way around the cap, across the nape of the neck, and back up the other side. 6608-A has an added 1/4″ lace that stops 3 3/4″ behind the lappet. Reinforcements at the tips stabilize linen tape, 3-4″ long, to tie them on.

Now for the little differences. 6608-A, Big Sister, is larger overall. The caul is 8″ on a side, by 7 1/4″ tall. The headpiece is 1 7/8 ‘ wide at the tip, and 10 1/2″ from CF to tip. The ruffle is 1″ wide all around. This one has the lace. The museum date is 1775-1799. It is very fine mull. The stitches are super fine: the join of the ruffle and the headpiece are two minutely hemmed pieces butted together, and the finished seam is 1/16″ across. That kind of precision boggles my mind.

Lappet cap laid out on graph paper for size. — Smithsonian 6608-A is larger, and has a small lace edging.

View inside this cap, showing neat rolled gather stitches. — Rolled gathers create the fullness of the top of the caul on Smithsonian 6608-A.

Close up of lappet end, showing lace edging and tape to tie the ends. — Tapes stabilized by reinforcements tie under the chin. Smiths 6608-A.

Little Sister, 6700-B, is smaller overall. The caul here is 6 1/2″ on a side, and 6 1/2″ tall. The headpiece is 1 1/4″ wide, and 10″ tip to CF. The ruffle starts out at 1 1/4″ at the CF, and is down to 7/8″ by the time it gets to the nape. I’ve seen this in other caps, and I can’t tell if it’s imprecision or a deliberate choice. Little Sister isn’t quite as good a seamstress; her stitches aren’t quite as fine. Her ruffle is gathered, just a little, all down the front. The headpiece is hemmed all around 1/8″, and the front of the ruffle finishes in a 1/4 hem. The cloth is a loose weave. The string ties come out at the back, whereas as Big Sister’s come out at the front point of connection between caul and headpiece. No lace for you, Little Sister. Maybe when you are older, and your stitches are as fine as your sibling. Museum date: 1790-1810.

Close up of CF of 18th C cap. — Rolled gathers make the pouf in the caul. Smiths 3700-B.

Close up of end of lappet of Smithsonian 18th C cap. — Loosely-woven cloth and large edge hems argue for a later date.

18th C lappet cap from the Smithsonian, laid flat. — Smithsonian 6700-B is smaller than 6608-A, although the pattern pieces are all the same shape.

Questions that remain

I wish I could ask the curator what made them give the differing dates. I would account for the difference in dating from the larger hems and looser weave of Little Sister’s cap, if I had to give reasons. I wonder if other people have ideas about this?

Portraits

18th c portrait of woman in brown gown with lappet cap. — Mrs. Richard Galloway, by John Hesselius (1728–1778), 1764. Held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mrs. Galloway wears a cap with lappets and little or no gathers around her face, tied with string under her chin. Is her ruffle doubled? You can just make out a wide white ribbon, but no bows or furls. See how you can see her ear?

My Notes

Click here for notes for 6608-A: smiths 6608 a notes

Click here for notes for 6700-B: smiths 6700 b notes

Thank Yous and Permissions

Nancy Davis, Curator of Textiles at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, helped me to identify items in that collection that were useful to this study. That was no small feat, as records were spread across several legacy cataloging systems, and details were minimal. I can only hope I found what there was to find!

Photos by the author.

Other Related Scholarship

I am not aware of any other scholarship on these caps.

*. . . which is not the same thing as the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt, in NYC. Their textiles section was under construction at the time of this study, so I didn’t get to see their artifacts.

Final.

Winterthur “Wedding Cap” — Or is it? Wint #1955.003.013, 1760

I was so excited to discover this cap, and see the photographs. It has provenence, it is beautifully made, its style is interesting and unique. At Winterthur, the research assistant walked me through many layers of security, locked doors, hidden entrances, to bring me to a workroom with this cap laid out under a cloth. It felt like the big reveal when we pealed back the cloth, and I couldn’t help myself, I cried out, “This is a child’s cap!” It is so small and perfect and jewel-like. So, like the Boston MFA cap, the query here became: could it really be, as the record asserts, an adult wedding cap?

This cap is at Winterthur Museum, # 1955.003.013. Their online catalog includes a photo and description.

The Original

Wint 1955.0003.013; superfine supersimple lappet cap, with provenance. — Winterthur Museum record photo. Used with Permission.

3″ by 5″ is a very small caul. The lappet is only 8 1/2 ” at its tip. The “ruffle,” which isn’t gathered at all, averages 5/8 wide. So all the dimensions are small.

The needle work is incredible. Each edge is whipped, then whipped again to join it to its neighbor, creating a little raised edge inside. But what you see on the outside is just 25 perfectly even tiny stitches per inch. The entire finished join measures less than 1/16″ across. The outside edges are rolled, not whipped, to finish.

The caul is pieced up the back, and has a 1/8″ casing along the bottom, but no exit holes for gathering strings. The only gather is along the top 5″ of the caul, a perfect miniature rolled gather.

The shape of the lappet headpiece and the unruffled ruffle is unique among the examples I’ve seen. The headpiece is cut on the grain, but curved under the ear, ever so slightly. The ruffle is shaped like a bread knife, with the slightly wider part near the ends. Joined, these two pieces make a round end, with the join going right up the middle.

Winterthur dates this cap with provenence because it came as part of the collection of needlework made by Mary Alsop (1740-1829), with a note pinned to it, “My Mother’s wedding Cap.” As Mrs. Alsop was married on April 27, 1760, that is the date given the cap. (All this is on the long record of the item.) You can see more of her needlework in the online catalog.

The cloth shines like silk, but it is cotton. The cloth is beginning to wear away; several mended places are visible.

Lappet cap beside a ruler gives an idea of size. — My study photo. I didn’t get any good detail photos.

Questions that remain

Is it an adult cap? I noticed when I went back to the record to write this post, that its description is changed now to “child’s cap.” (And then changed back!) It is true that many items that come to us with provenance end up, upon close examination, to be falsely attributed. So maybe her family did not know which cap was really her wedding cap. I’ve also seen in museum records, conflicting accounts by various visiting experts about the date or story for an item. I love that the curators carefully attach all these to the item for the next person to discover, a story gathering over time, perhaps with a conclusion, perhaps not.

I’m leaning toward calling this an adult cap. Here are my reasons:

First, I put my reproduction on the head of Newbold Richardson, (Newbie) who claims she has the “smallest head in the world.” It fits her. True, Newbie has short hair, so there isn’t any bulk under the cap. Also, as I note below, my version is a little off, but not substantially, I think, for fitting purposes.

Modern woman in reproduction of this 18th c cap: it fits! — Newbie models Wint 1955.0003.013 at CSA 2016. (Thanks, Newbie!)

Second, unlike, for example, Boston MFA #49.366, which has gathering strings that will make that cap even smaller when worn, this cap shows no sign of gathers. The normal method of sizing by gathering the caul is not being used. This would sit on her head in just this shape, exactly fit for the purpose. And, as Newbie shows us, it is rather nice looking laying simply on her head. It could be worn higher, on dressed hair, with ribbons and flowers, and still look fitted and appropriate.

young woman modeling the wedding cap on dressed hair — This is how I imagined the cap looking on dressed hair.

IMG_20221015_124133169_HDR

Here’s another good example of the cap on dressed hair. Thanks, Simone!

Portraits

No portraits. No examples. I’ve never seen this shape anywhere else. Have you? I’ve been looking at baby caps in museums (of which there are hundreds!), websites and books about baby garb, portraits of women and children, both 18th and 19th C sources. I don’t see anything anywhere like this. Which doesn’t help, does it? If something is unique — Mary’s one-of-a-kind self-designed custom-fit not-really-fashionable wedding cap — it leaves us at a loss to place it, prove it, or dispute it.

The Reproduction

I made this from silk to mimic the fineness of the 18th C cloth. — Saines repro of Wint 1955.0003.013.

As with many caps, one challenge here was reproducing exact 25-stitches-per-inch perfection. I used silk organza to mimic the shiny look of the original. The fineness of that cloth, with silk thread, made it possible to achieve those minute edges.

I had some trouble with the shape, especially in the lappet. Mine ended up pointy rather than rounded. And the curves suffer from stretching. I pulled so hard on the cloth to make those tiny rolled edges that some look riffly when they should lie flat. I think I would enlarge the pattern pieces of both the caul and the ruffle to allow more room to work.

My Notes

Click here for notes and pattern: wint 1955.0003.013

Thank Yous and Permissions

Linda Eaton, Senior Curator of Textiles, gave me permission to discuss this artifact here. Lea Lane met me at the museum that day and helped me with questions afterward.

Museum record photos by Winterthur Museum.

Other photos by the author. Thanks for permission from Newbie to show her modelling this cap. Thanks for permission to include the young woman modeling the dressed hair; I will add her name when I find my notes.

Other Related Scholarship

The museum record notes this article, which details many other needlework items owned by Winterthur and made by Mary Alsop. This cap is not described in the article.

Krueger, Glee. “A Middletown Cameo: Mary Wright Alsop and Her Needlework.”Connecticut Historical Society Museum & Library Vol. 52, No.3-4 Summer/Fall 1987

Mary Alsop’s work was part of the museums’ 2009 exhibit, Who’s Your Daddy?

Version 4; add name of model at Schoenbrunn.

Gauzy Ruffles: Winterthur 1969.4675

A solid example of an 18th C lappet cap, cotton muslin with a gauzy cotton ruffle gathered only at the turn. Long “kissing strings” gather the caul. Winterthur Museum date: 1750-1800. Their online catalog includes a description, but no image.

The Original

Really badly lit photo of a lappet cap with many stains and tears. — Winterthur 1969.4675, a lappet cap with superfine needlework.

Three pieces are finished, then joined:

The caul, only 7″ tall, with long tapes in 1/4″ casing at the base. The tapes come out at the front join of the caul and the headpiece.
The headpiece, cut on the straight grain, minutely whipped on the front edge. Felled to the caul on the back edge with the world’s tiniest hem (except where it is stroke gathered across the top). 10 1/4″ at the longest point. Ties sewn to the tips are 4 1/2 ” long, sewn to the inside.
The ruffle, made of fine, loosely woven cotton, 1 1/4″ wide, is whipped, then joined to the headpiece. It is pieced on both ends. The front edge is finished with a 1/16″ hem. 1/16″. Let that sink in…

The gather at the top of the caul is a stroke gathering, unfinished on the inside, across the top 6″ of the arch.

I think it was while examining this cap that it hit me what was going on with those long strings, functionally: each one is sewn to the end of the channel on the other side. The strings are doubled inside the channel, so then pulled, they pull against each other and gather up the base of the caul.

So these kissing strings maybe have to be long so they can be tucked somewhere, otherwise they hang under the ears and get in the way. But we don’t know where they got tied. See my discussion of this over here.

The original has many mended places, perfectly darned. The cap is stained.

If I were to pick an example of a “typical” lappet with “typical” construction, I’d pick this one. Its lines are clean and the stitches perfect, nothing oddly cobbled together or poorly executed.

Detail of the top of the cap showing the outside, with the close and even stroke gathers. — Close up of the the stroke gathers. Winterthur 1969.4675

Close up of cap folded back to see the inside. 18th C lappet cap. — Shows the inside unfinished stroke gathers, with transition to felled seam down the sides. Winterthur 1969.4675

Close up of 18th C lappet cap. — The fineness of the felled seam is clear here, also showing some examples of mended areas. Winterthur 1969.4675

Questions that remain

By the time I got to this cap, I’d already asked the questions raised here: what are those long strings for? (Not sure) Was it common to have a ruffle of finer stuff? (Yes.) Is this typical of 18th C caps? (Yes.) How do they make those minute hems and stitches? (Practice, practice, practice.)

Portraits

18th C portrait of a women wearing a lappet cap with a white bow under her chin. — Anna Porter Brown (Mrs. Nathaniel Brown). Painted by Joseph Badger, @ 1750. Fine Art Museums of San Francisco.

Anna Brown, @ 1750, wears a cap like this one. Its simplicity is echoed in her dress, neckerchief, and sleeve ruffles. Her cap is tied on with a simple white ribbon. Note how it sits back from her face, the ruffles fanning out but not actually gathered. Anna was from Massachusetts, and the clean and fine lines of her garments make me wonder if she is Quaker.

The Reproduction

The challenge of this cap was to get those edges and joins as small as the original.

Repro cap shown on black head mount against a green ground. — Saines reproduction of Wint 1969.4675

I used batiste cotton for the body and mull for the ruffles. I’m learning that if I want to recreate really fine stitches, it helps to have really fine cloth — but you already knew that, didn’t you? It also helps to have really fine thread and needles. Ideally, the thread should match the weight of the cloth being sewn, and the needle should not leave a hole bigger than the weave. I’ve resorted to silk thread because it is as fine as a cotton batiste.

People often ask me where I get my cloth. I go to the normal reenactors’ suppliers: Wm. Booth, Draper or Burnley and Trowbridge. Their finest linens and organzas are close enough to get the look right. The really fine weight cloth (3.5 oz or lighter) is expensive, but a cap takes 1/4 or 1/3 of a yard, so that makes it seem almost affordable. I don’t live near to any big cities with a garment district, so when I travel I try to get to good fabric stores, but even these have very little. I also buy linen blouses and Indian cotton skirts at second hand stores and take them apart. These often have finer cloth than I can find by the yard. I once got a whole stack of cloth at a Goodwill — must have been a reenactor who never got around to things.

The mistake I made on this cap is I put the lappet tapes on the outside, and they are supposed to be on the inside.

My Notes

Click here for notes and pattern: wint 1969.46.75

Thank Yous and Permissions

Linda Eaton, Senior Curator of Textiles, gave me permission to discuss this artifact here. Lea Lane met me at the museum that day and helped me with questions afterward.

Photos by the author.

Other Related Scholarship

I am not aware of any further research on this cap.

Final.

The Second Round-Eared Cap: Smiths 6608B

[2nd draft. pics rev ]

In all my travels, I have found only two round-eared caps from the 18th C. They are both at the Smithsonian, both from the Copp Collection. The other one is described here .

The cap is housed in the textiles collection of the National Museum of American History.* The record for this item is not online.

The Original

Study photo of round-eared cap. — Smiths 6608 B is a round-eared cap with a wide ruffle

The museum dates this cap 1795-1815, so it just barely qualifies as 18th C. Since we can’t ask the curator who assigned these dates so long ago, we don’t know what that person saw to prompt her to date this one later than Smiths 6608. I think that the wider hems and cotton cloth are clues to a later date.

Made of cotton mull, superfine and almost gauzy, plain white, with an edging on the ruffle (it isn’t lace; an extra fine tape, perhaps?). My notes are unclear here. (Argh! even when you think you’ve been thorough…)

It’s made of three pieces, all on the straight grain: semicircular caul, 1 3/4″ straight headpiece, and a ruffle that’s wider at the CF than the bottoms. The headpiece is pieced at the top with a felled hem. That’s pretty common. Gathers on the caul and the ruffle are rolled, whipped, gathered all in one stitch, making a pretty popcorn effect inside that goes across the top 4″ on the headpiece, the top 8″ on the ruffle. The headpiece is hemmed 1/8″ all around, and the hem of the ruffle is 1/4″. A casing runs along the bottom of the caul and headpiece, allowing the strings to come out right under the ears.

Round-eared 18th C cap, showing the inside stitches.

Smiths 6608B, layed back to see the inside stitches

The string comes out beneath the ears and is 7″ long on each side.

A rolled gather creates a beautiful ruffle in fine cloth such as this cotton.

Questions that remain / Portrait

Mr. and Mrs. Brewster, seated. She wears a round-eared cap — Mr. and Mrs. Brewster, 1795-1800. Her cap shows us about as much detail as an American portrait gives us.

What don’t I understand? The two round-eared caps have straight headpieces. I keep recommending Kannik’s cap pattern, but really her cap isn’t like these at all. That cap I wear, that I’ve replicated a dozen times, has a moon-shaped headpiece, and a shaped ruffle that is gathered all the way down. Many French portraits have detailed renderings of caps, but for American caps, Mrs. Brewster is abut the only one I can see any detail. This portrait is 1795-1800, so it fits the time period given the cap. I think her headpiece is straight, too.

And what do you do with those gathering strings once you’ve pulled them? Where do they hang? Where do you hide them? They would be looping down under your earlobes. Tie them under your chin?

The Reproduction

Round-eared cap with gathering strings at the bottom. — Saines repro of Smiths 6608B, made of cotton.

I had a nice soft cotton to work with, and the repro matches the original shape and size. The caul pattern is off; I had to make adjustments as I went, and I noted “redo this” on the pattern, so don’t trust it!

Having the gather string go all along the bottom and tie under the chin, plus the really wide ruffle, gives this cap a halo effect when worn.

My Notes

smiths 6608 B round notes and pattern

Thank Yous

Other Related Scholarship

I am not aware of any scholarship for this artifact.

*. . . which is not the same thing as the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt, in NYC. Their textiles section was under construction at the time of this study, so I didn’t get to see their artifacts.

Under Ruffle? Philly 87.35.825

A Quaker with a taste for simple elegance created this cap, probably between 1750-1800.

Philly 87.35.825 is a Quaker cap, which has its own set of interpretive problems. — This 2-piece cap has an unusual gauzy under-ruffle that skims the nape of the neck.

Philadelphia History Museum records associate this cap with Rebecca Jones, a Quaker “minister” (their quotes, not mine), who lived from 1739-1818. It’s a 2-piece lappet, with one unusual skinny ruffle sewn along the bottom of the cap, encircling the nape of her neck.

The Original

The pattern for this cap is very simple: cut out 2 flat piece of super fine linen, and sew them together up the middle. But first, whip the edges, then butt them together and whip again, with the resulting join measuring less than 1/8″ across. This is another example of fine and exact stitching.

The front edge is rolled, not whipped, to a minute, neat, finish. The gathering channel is only about 6″ long, along the nape. The short string comes out at the back, inside, through a buttonholed opening. After the channel, the edge smooths down to a 1/16″ hem that finishes the back of the lappet.

A gauzy ungathered ruffle only 3/8″ wide decorates the bottom edges, from the tip of one lappet, around the nape, to the tip of the other. Its edges are also minutely hemmed, then whipped to the cap.

Inside the lappet, you can see the difference in the 2 kinds of cloth used.

Photo shows center seam of caul, with fine stitches and red initial.

The seam up the back is made up of very small whip stitches

Why did Rebecca Jones mark this cap with a red “G”?

The other decoration is a row of tiny straight stitches 1″ back from the front edge of the cap, completely straight and even, giving the impression of being pieced, or maybe she just liked the sheen of the thread. I’ve seen this detail on numerous Quaker caps.

I think this is the only cap I’ve seen with a laundry marker. It is a red “G” in itty bitty cross stitches. I wonder why Rebecca Jones made a cap marked “G”? I guess a cap “associated with” Rebecca doesn’t necessarily mean it was “hers.” Did she make it for a daughter — Gertrude or Gina?

Questions that remain

One detail makes me wonder about the pre-1800 date: the squared lappets. Curators at both Philly and Chester County were willing to say that is characteristic of post-1800 caps.

Portraits

Cap with simple, wrapping lappets, but the caul is high and gathered. — Mrs. Cooke, by William Jennys (fl. 1790 to 1810) – Honolulu Academy of Arts, Public Domain, Mrs. Cooke’s cap has some attributes of our example, but isn’t s close match.

The front of Mrs. Cooke’s cap looks similar to this one, a simple lappet with no ruffles. The Philly example has ties at the tips, but in this portrait I think she has overlapped the ends and pinned them. I do think this one is made in 3 pieces, so it has shape and gathers that this cap doesn’t have. I can’t find a portrait of a cap that seems to be made of only 2 flat pieces. Can you find one?

The Reproduction

The pattern was easy because the cap lies almost completely flat. The only question I had was whether to dip in the nape or cut it straight and let the gather string make that curve. I opted to cut in the curve.

The one-piece lappet has a small ruffle along on the bottom. — Saines repro of Philly 87.35.825.

I had a problem with this one that I’ve had with others: when I whip an edge, then whip the whipped edged together, I end up with dinosaur humps. See how it makes a Stegosaurus back? That join is stiff and inflexible, too. Someone suggested it was because I was stretching the cloth as I worked, and to run a line of stitching up the edge before whipping it. I’ll try that next time.

I also forgot the strings at the ends.

I think this cap has an especial simple beauty. It’s unique and intriguing and elegant.

My Notes

Click here for notes and pattern: philly 87.35.825

Thank Yous and Permissions

Kristen Froehlich, Director of the Collection and Exhibits at the Philadelphia history Museum at the Atwater Kent gave me permission to use images I made and discuss this artifact here.

Other Related Scholarship

This cap does not appear in the museum’s online catalog.

I am not aware of any other scholarship on this cap.

Final.

DAR 1203: A Cap With A Story

Few caps are actually dated, but this one has a story and a date. It’s a simple lappet cap, small and unadorned, of soft sheer cotton mull. The catalog record tells the story:

“Janneke Phoenix Krum was the wife of Hendrck W. Krum — a soldier of the American Revolution. The flax was spun and woven by Janneke Krum, and the cap made by hand — also by her.”

They were married on May 4, 1777, so the record implies this is her wedding cap. The DAR Museum in Washington, D.C. owns this cap.

A lappet cap displayed with a red empire dress and white neckcloth. — The cap on this dress model is DAR 1203, a simple lappet with a story.

The Original

Made of three pieces, caul, headpiece, and ruffle, but with wide (1/4″) hems throughout. The caul is gathered to the headpiece with whipped gathers over the top 6″ of the headpiece. The headpiece is on the straight grain, 1.5″ at the CF, widening to 3 1/4″ where the caul and headpiece meet under the ears, and skinnying down to 1/2″ wide at the ends. The ruffle is joined to the headpiece with a whip stitch.

The ruffle is gathered at the CF and at the turn of the lappet only, a common characteristic of the era. The headpiece is reinforced with tiny triangles of cloth at the tips to withstand the tension of the gathering strings attached there.

Close-up of center front ruffle, top of headpiece, tight gathering of the caul. — The gathered CF ruffle of DAR 1203.

Close up of the end of the lappet of DAR 1203, showing gather of ruffle and string ties. — Gathers go gently around the lappet, and a string attached here ties the ends under one’s chin.

Cap #1203 from DAR Museum is a lappet with wide hems throughout. — The 1/4″ hem throughout might be an indicator of a later date?

Questions that Remain

The wide hems and the cotton cloth make me wonder if this is 19th C, but the style and construction fit the bill for 18th C. Note the museum record says Mrs. Krum spun the flax (i.e., linen) herself, but then identifies the cloth as cotton mull. I wonder if this is a cap from later in her life? I wonder if the hand-spun cloth story is real.

Portraits

Portrait of woman wearing lappet cap. John Wollaston, Portrait of Mrs. Ebenezer Pemberton, ca. 1750. RISD Museum. — This cap is similar, with a special extra gather at the top in the front.

Lappet caps are the most common mid-century cap. Notice that she has a ribbon under her chin. DAR 1203 has a surviving tie sewn on to the tips, to tie under the chin. I wonder if the ribbon in this portrait is sewn on to the cap, pinned on, or tied around her neck separately? I’d opt for sewn on to the cap, but I’ve never seen ribbons on an original, not until the 19th C when they grow large and wide.

The Reproduction

I’m still learning about how the weight of the cloth impacts the gather. On this cap, although the whipped gather only goes across the top 6″ of the cap, I had to keep gathering it nearly all the way down the sides to make the caul fit onto the headpiece. That’s also partly because I was still learning how to infer a flat pattern from gathered shape, and got the proportions wrong. Another complicating factor was replicating that curve under the ear. Most caps are straight here.

Saines' reproduction on DAR 1203, lappet cap of cotton, shown on hat display. — My version of DAR 1203.

My Notes

Click here for notes and pattern: BookScanCenter (1)

You can see the problems I had making a pattern! I’ve gotten better at this over time.

Thank Yous and Permissions.

Thanks to Alden O’Brien, Curator of Costumes and Textiles, of the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, DC, who gave me permission to blog about the DAR caps I saw.

Other Related Scholarship

I am not aware of any scholarship on this cap.

Final.