The caps have
a large crown, gathered on to a strip of lace or fabric, attached to linen ties
to secure the cap. These ties would have been pulled tight and tied in a bow at
the nape of the neck to keep the crown in place so that it would have kept the wearer’s
hair off her face and neatly covered. In most of the caps I have seen the crown
area is finely embroidered although whether this was common or only the highly
decorated ones have survived I don’t know.
The front
part of the cap is made up of a border with a wide scallop sewn from fine lawn
edged with lace or entirely of lace. It is attached to the strip of fabric that
holds the crown with fine pleats. In many examples the lace seems to be of the
Lille type with a wide area of open net with occasional tallies and a floral
border along the edge outlined with a thicker gimp thread.
The defining
feature of all the caps is the row of pins fixed closely together to make a
band of shining silver down the centre of the lappet. Some sources say the pins
are copper others say they are stainless steel but so far I have only seen the silver-coloured
steel ones. The examples I’ve found in museums all date from the nineteenth
century, however some are from the early part and others from the end of the
century, reinforcing the theory that these caps were items of regional dress that
were kept and reused possibly by different generations, rather than fashion
wear that changes over time. As for my original question about the pins, all the
sources I’ve seen suggest the pins were decorative and were added to give sparkle
to the caps and had no functional use at all.
