Millinery (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Chapter III HAT STRAW AND STRAW BRAIDS (Continued) Varieties There are many varieties of straw braid and the number seems to be increasing every year. Some braids have been made by hand in the present weave for many centuries. Others are the product of machines. Straw braids are classed as: Hand-made Machine-made Tuscan Chip Leghorn Yedda Milan Ramie Patent Milan Horsehair Japan Split Horsehair Imitation China Split Crepe Band Lisere Pyroxylin Swiss Straw Chrysanthemum Braid Hemp Specialties: Milan Hemp Visca Imitation Hemp Caterpillar, etc. Tuscan Braid Tuscan plaits and Leghorn hats are made from Tuscan straw which varies greatly in quality and value. The Tuscan braid lends itself to fancy weaves with much grace, and pretty " lace Tuscan " hats are frequently seen. The braid is used in wide fancy borders or in a hat apparently woven in one piece by hand. A strong twist of two straws may be made and used as a single strand. Several lace Tuscan hats in various colors were recently shown, resembling in pattern the Batten- berg lace which was popular a number of years ago as " fancy work." The Tuscan is a strong, durable braid, naturally of a rich cream color, tending to a tan yellow. The straw, which is very fine, is seldom split as other straws are, but is used whole. Other straws, such as the Panama type, which sometimes give this same effect, are split straws specially prepared. (See Chapter IV for information on Panama hats.) The upper part of the stalk is yellow at first. In addition to the bleaching of the raw straw by the sun, several smokings with sulphur are given to the straw, the plait, and lastly to the hat to whiten it. The lower part of the straw which was covered by the slender leaf is not quite so yellow,...