The Lowndes County Historical Museum is proud to display these baby bonnets and hats. At the time of this writing, the history on some of the bonnets is unidentified. If you recognize any of the bonnets, please contact the museum with information. We thank you for your assistance.
Late 1800’s style bonnets
UNK#1 TB 29a
This child’s bonnet is made of white fine lawn material, It measures13 ½” around head ear-to-ear, brim 3 1/8” wide. It employs early machine embroidered eyelet lace which is then quilted in the front to add form around the head. The brim ruffle is an ample 2 ¾” wide and was pressed into tiny pleats instead of gathered. The bavolet or ruffle used to protect neck is 5 ¾” wide w/ a 7/8” straight sewing machine hem. The back very full crown and completed with an upside down U shape of quilted same lace eyelet. Ties are made of white linen and fasten from the inside. Worthy of note is also the inside lining/ fitting.
UNK#2 TB 29a
This older child’s bonnet is made of cotton and is machine constructed. The bonnet brim 15” around head ear-to-ear. Brim width at deepest part is 5 ¼” and closely machine quilted in parallel rows 1/8 inch apart following the curved shape of the front. The brim ruffle is 2” wide. The back of bonnet is fully gathered with a straight stitched hemmed ruffle made from the same material. The back also gathers at neck with a narrow tie inside a casing. The self fabric tie is attached to the outside.
UNK #3 TB 29a
This bonnet to made of cotton voile. The brim is machine quilted in rows ¼” and trimmed in ¼” cotton eyelet edging. The bavolet (neck ruffle) is 4” and also eyelet trimmed. The back tip (this is the back head part of the bonnet) is shaped in a wide unside down U and is made from the same fabric quilted. Plain fabric that is doubled joins the brim to the back tip. This is stitched shut from the inside with large whipped stitches which makes a ruffle between the tip and the brim. This also serves as a growth tuck, the whipped stitches can be taken out and the bonnet becomes a larger bonnet instantly! The following photos show the inside construction and the whipped stitch coming undone. The last photo shows a close up of the early machine eyelet embroidery.
Early 1900’s style bonnets
UNK#5 TB 29a
This little cream colored bonnet measures 14″ from ear to ear and is made of organdy and lace with pintucks and gathered 1/2 ” lace to hem the edges. The 2” wide strip of organdy is decorated with wihte on white hand embroidery employing the back stitch and shadow work. Organdy panels are hemed by turing under 1/16″ and sewn with a machine striaght stitch while the lace is hand whipped to the hem.
The back is a circle of gathered organdy. which is enhanced by the gathered lace edging. The circle shaped tip is decorated with shadow work embroidery framed by a square of two rows of pintucks and is with a gathered lace edging. The bonnet has evidence this used have two ribbons ties.
UNK#6 TB 29A
This little all white bonnet measures only 11 ½” ear-to-ear and is a combination of machine and handstitching. The very fine and sheer cotton is decorated with white embroidered tiny satin stitched 5 petal flowers and French knots. Two panels of embroidered flowers are separated by gathered lace edging. A ¼” tuck decorates the back of the crown which is gathered into Entradeux and a circle of fabric decorated by flowers and French knots. A little ribbon rosette decorates the right side only. The bonnet is trimmed around the bottom with whipped gathered lace edging. Satan ribbon ties secures the bonnet under the chin.
UNK#7 TB 29A
This very delicate 1920-1930’s ecru cotton bonnet 14″ from ear to ear is made with tape lace and neddle lace stitches resembling Battenburg lace. The tape laces are made in the shape of flowers with the center being eyelet buttonhole stitch, also employing the spider and herringbone stitch. Bonnet is finished in the front w/3 ribbon rosettes in silk, all over edging is finished ½” lace gathered edging. The little ecru silk ties are missing but are evident in the stitching on the bonnet.
UNK#8 TB 29A
This white cotton all over lace baby bonnet is partially hand constructed of machine made lace fabric., The fabric resembles rose point with flowers joined legs that include picots. A scalloped edging is also part of this lace fabric. A 2 5/8” wide cotton lace edging is attached by hand as a narrow bavolet. The ties are missing. The tip is oval piece in back rather than round and is hemmed with a ¼” machine embroidered braid which is sewn on by machine.
UNK #9 TB 29a
This ecru linen toddler bonnet, measuring 15″ from ear to ear, has sewn net lacing insertions and drawn thread work. The front is finished with a ¾” cotton lace edging but the sides and back are finished with a bias binding and then the lace edgeing. This bonnet is gathered in back to a circle of the same linen with 4 rows of drawn thread work. The ties again are missing.
UNK#10 TB 29A
This 13″ lace baby bonnet looks like it is made by sewing eight rows of lace insertion together but on further inspection it is a lace piece of fabric made to look like lace insertion sewn together. A ¾” gathered lace edging was sewn to the on outside edges. The back is gathered into a circle of lace insertion fabric with gathered lace. This was an easy and fast bonnet to construct. There are no ties and no evidence of such.
UNK#11 TB 29A
This 14″ baby bonnet is made from very fine handkerchief linen and features 5 rows of drawn thread work edged with a 1/2” gathered lace edging. The circle shaped back has four more vertical drawn thread work rows and gathered lace edging. The back was repaired improperly before it was given to the museum and was not done by the person who made the bonnet as the stitching on this bonnet otherwise is very precise. There are no ties.
UNK# 12 TB29A
This all hand stitched silk toddler bonnet, possibly originally pink but aged to ecru, employes 1 ½” puffing with1/2” cotton lace insertion on each side. A gathered 1” ruffle hemmed with a ½” lace insertion decorates the crown which is then gathered to circle in back, trimmed with entredeux and lace edging. The entire bonnet is finished with 1/2” lace edging, and the silk ties are still intact. A single silk shoe made from silk crepe was also stored in this box. It is ecru with blue silk feather stitching and has two silk thread handmade buttonholes on each side for a ribbon closure. This little shoes is approximately 4” long.
1997-43-11,TB 29a Carrie June Abbott Griffin Collection
This child’s bonnet was given to the museum by Betsy Windsor and belonged to the daughter of Carrie June Abbott and William Henry Griffin. Carrie June Abbott was born in 1864 in Vermont and married William Henry Griffin (b. 1863 in Berrien County Ga.) in 1894 in Valdosta, Georgia, He was lawyer and served as Mayor of Valdosta from 1892-1895. They made their home on 412 Troupe Street and had three children. The first child died in infancy in 1894, but they had a son William Albert (b. 1897) and a daughter Margarette Rebecca (b. 1904) that lived to adulthood. There is more information and about this family and this collection in Childrens Clothing and Adult Female Clothing.
This child’s bonnet probably belonged to Margarette Rebecca. Its brim is made of a faced pinwale corduroy and decorated with a simple 1/4 embroidery band and finished with 1 1/2″ wide gathered Swiss lace edging. The crown is made from a gathered dotted Swiss batiste which is also gathered at the neck inside with a narrow tie in a casing. There is also an outside decorative ribbon about the back neck and a tie ribbon at the chin which is attached to the inside of the back of the brim.
Acq 2010-19, TB 29a Mrs. John Wiggins
The Wiggins collections are very expansive and include Quilts and Coverlets, Tatting, Sewing Tools, Horse Carriage Blankets, Adult Ladies Fashion, and Aprons.
-06 This silk ecru toddler bonnet is decorated with rows of ruffles 1″ wide that are hemmed with a tiny zigzag stitch along the edge giving it a picot looking edge. The front ruffle is also a double row of silk plus 1/4″ of silk hemmed with a 3/8″ gathered cotton edging. The lace continues in the back edges. The bonnet is gathered around a circle of silk in the back. The ties are missing.
-09 This little crochet baby cap is made with ecru cotton thread. It has a little crochet scalloped edge all the way around. An open chain stitch joining to make a trellis design alternates with denser double crochet rows to give variance in texture. The crochet circle on back is made from the double crochet. Ties are not evident.
2016-51, TB 29a Rouse & Maggie Vallotton Collection
These three bonnets are part of a vast collection of textiles so please also check the children clothing, adult female clothing, sports and high school textiles pages planned for the future.
-42 This is an simple typical eyelet fabric infant bonnet with gathered lace edging The back is shaped into a round form. The ties on this bonnet are missing.
-043 The beauty in this tailored boys bonnet is in the fine linen coupled with the white on white hand stitching shadow work of large flowers. Shadow work is done using an embroidery stitch that looks like a back stitch on the front and an x on the back which fills in the very fine cloth leaving a shadow of the thread on the under side. A photo below shows the wrong side stitching. The front is finished with a turned under 1/2 hem using the point de Paris stitch. The back is slightly gathered into the circular form while petals of shadow stitching continue on the back edge. This bonnet is scheduled for stabilization to preserve it for the future.
-044 This little deep ecru colored bonnet is made of silk ribbon joined with rows of faggoting, The bonnet is finished all around with a very full 1/2″ ruffle made of netting and ¼” silk ribbon for the hem. The ties are made of wider silk ribbon. This bonnet was fully lined in silk fabric the same color as the ribbons used in the outer construction. Because of the inert characteristics of silk, this bonnet is in a very fragile condition and should not be handled.
2016-60 Little, Paula
-02This infant ecru crochet baby bonnet measures 15″ from ear to ear and is decorated with French knot flowers in pink and blue with yellow centers. This feels like it might be pearl silk or art silk (rayon) The crochet pattern uses several stitches including a little shell ruffle edging finishing the perimeter of the bonnet and is also employed as decorative rows. The underside of the bonnet also has a narrow cotton lace edging stitched to the perimeter giving it a double ruffle or a little extra frill. A Ribbon rosette in silk ecru decorates on one side. Tie ribbons are missing,
1979-159-2 TB 29a, B.B. Livingston (1917-1996)
This knitted cap belonged in the Livingston family. Basil Bonette “Pete or Speck” Livingston was born 15 March 1917 in South Carolina. He was a Techinal Sergant in the U.S, Army Aircorp and served 14 November 1941 trhough 31 January 1946. He moved to Valdosta in 1955 and his wife was Sarah Mary Buckley (Sadie) Livingston. They lived on Northfield Rd. They are buried in Riverview Memorial Cemetry in Valdosta, GA. It is interesting to note that B.B.Livingston also gave the museum a Civil War era “time piece” which is on display in the Civil War section of the Main Building, Main Floor Level.
This little knitted cotton cap features bobbles filling in a triangle shape along the brimless crown edge. A tassle decorates the top. This could have been his baby cap for the style suggests 1917-1920.