Ribbon Cockades

A ribbon cockade is a knot of ribbon in a circle or oval shape often used to adorn hats or lapels. They were very popular in the 18th century and were made in distinctive colours used to show the allegiance of the wearer to a particular political group, their rank or as part of a servant's livery.

I love decorating my hats with historically inspired things so I really wanted to learn how to make ribbon cockades. I found some really good instructions in old millinery books and also online tutorials such as this brilliant one by Claudine de Montigny on her blog http://claudinedemontigny.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/yet-another-cockade-tutorial-part-1.html. It took a bit of practise as they are quite fiddly, but eventually I made my first cockade! Yey! I like using petersham or velvet ribbon. Both of these are good for making cockades as being quite firm they hold the shape well while folding. There are so many lovely ribbons to use though and they all give different effects. Stripy ribbons in particular, make really interesting patterns. Also layering up cockades of different sizes create lovely decorations perfect for hats.



A couple of the ribbon cockades I have made so far.



Now I have made a few different cockades I'm hooked! They are so much fun to make. It's something I can do in the evenings in front of a good film, with the obligatory gin and tonic on hand of course! Once you get into the swing of it you can make them up pretty quickly. They look great and are giving me some great ideas for some new hats which I can't wait to try out. I am making one in black velvet at the moment which would look great on a little black felt bowler hat I'm working on. I will post some pictures when it's finished!

Love and Hattiness

Sally x