1840’s Daycap for Zipporah
Linen Daycap
A friend gave me some very well worn linen squares…I used one for Flora’s baby gown, and made another into two 1840’s style linen daycaps – one for Zipporah and another to trade away. Here is a tutorial showing how I made the daycaps.
The daycaps are based on a pattern found by clicking here …but shrunk down to fit Hitty. To see how I put my Hitty-sized daycap together, click any image below, and use the arrows to navigate from one picture to the next.
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- Linen Square
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- Cut a “half-circle with ears”. I positioned my pattern to take advantage of a nice bit of hemstitching.
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- Overcast the raw edges
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- Stitch three little darts
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- Stitch flat lace all round all edges – gathering at the bottom of the lappets so the lace lies flat around the curve. Make small tucks or folds at the back corners.
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- Second row of lace, double the length of the front edge, gathered and stitched to that edge.
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- Trimmings! Another friend gave me some lovely silk ribbon flowers – I used one medium-sized flower over each ear.
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- Front View – with silk ribbon ties
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- Back View
Quimper Hittys 
How perfect for Zipporah! Beautiful habberdashery.
Thanks very much – Zipporah finally feels properly dressed
Zipporah feels very ‘Emily Dickinson’ and very gentle. She’s a lovely little Hitty!
So lovely! Beautiful work.
Can you tell me how wide the flat lace was, that you used? I would like to knit my own (probably with fine embroidery thread and less-than-1mm needles, because I doubt #10 cotton on 2mm would be fine enough?
Thanks very much, I had fun making the bonnet…the lace is 7 mm wide good luck with the super fine knitting!
wonderful tutorial, the day cap is very sweet, two rows of lace and the ribbon flowers are “icing on the cake”!
The little ribbon flowers were such a special present – I am happy to be “spending” them on Hitty!
I needed this inspiration ! thank you…your day cap is just lovely.
You are very welcome! We loved this little project…I bet you will make a really pretty one too!
You are such a devoted and talented Hitty mother!
I was curious about the word Hitty, and found this:
The baby girl name Hitty is pronounced as HHIHT-iy- †. Hitty’s origin is Banti Eskimo. Hitty is a variant form of the name Hiti.
Hitty is unusual as a baby girl name. It is ranked outside of the top 1000.
Baby names that sound like Hitty include Hittie, Hada (English, Spanish, and Hebrew), Hadda (English), Hadee, Hadhi (African and Swahili), Hadi (Arabic), Hadie, Hadu, Hady, Haedee, Haedey, Haedi, Haedie, Haedy, Haidee (English), Haidée (Dutch, French, Greek, and Spanish), Haidi, Haidie, Haidy, and Hateya.
† English pronunciation for Hitty: HH as in “he (HH.IY)” ; IH as in “it (IH.T)” ; T as in “tee (T.IY)” ; IY as in “eat (IY.T)”
Wow, I had no idea, how interesting! My Hittys are named after a small wooden doll in a story, whose name was Mehitabel, shortened to Hitty by her first little girl Phoebe Preble.
The book is called Hitty – Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field, and Illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop.
Zipporah is a picture of domestic tranquility in her dainty cap. Oh, that covering my head would give me such an air of peace.
She has always been a peaceful young woman, but she loves her cap, and thinks you may like to try it out as an indoor tranquility-promoting device.
I want to make myself a day cap !
Me too! I think it would be quite easy and I have lots of ribbon and lace – maybe we could!
So beautiful….and many thanks for your careful tutorial. One of these days….
I am glad you enjoy them – I enjoy sewing and photographing the process, and it is nice to share!