Little House on the Prairie Crocheted Cap- Historical Inspiration

This is a bit of a wacky post, and outside my normal wheelhouse. You might want to skip it unless you are interested in the origin of film costuming styles. I, personally, found it quite interesting!

When I was growing up, there were two camps- you were either a “Little House” girl, or an “Anne/Avonlea” girl. Never the two shall mix. Aren’t kids funny?

My house was an Avonlea house, and I watched Anne and Sarah Stanley, and dreamed of living on a farm on an island and running down to the sea. *However*, my child in her Western phase, and I racked my brain thinking of Western appropriate shows for an under-ten kid. That’s when I remembered “Little House”.

Let me tell you. I was fooled for how “family friendly” Little House could be! This show can get so incredibly dark, and fast. The first season was lighter, and now in the second season we have all sorts of things that probably were authentically Western but are much more intense than the Avonlea series. I suppose that could be why, as children on the playground, we so often played make-believe games where we had to save someone from starvation, or help rescue people, or save kittens before they were drowned. Kids seem to dig an element danger and survival.

In any case, I digress. My child fell in love with a crocheted hat. It seemed so outside the realm of historical possibility that I was laughing, and she turned to me and said “I WANT ONE. Can you make it for me, Mama?” Oh no.

This is not my photo, but is from another blog. This is the hat that caused the love affair.

Image source: Knick Knacks & Rick Rack

Apparently, my child was not the only one in recent times to want a recreation. This was lovingly recreated by a clever YouTuber who specializes in vintage and historical crochet.

Image source: Just Vintage Crochet on YouTube

This is a much better view of the hat, with more stills inside the video. Go check it out if you want to see how she recreated it.

I totally followed her channel after finding it. Crocheting mystery 1840’s patterns to see how they turn out? Yes, please.

In any case, this got me thinking. *Usually* film and tv costumes get ideas *somewhere*. That means there must be some sort of historical equivalent they based it on.

My friend, who is somewhat of a specialist in mid-19th century women’s fashion, said she did see something similar in an 1860s Godey’s, and I should ask in the Historic Knitting Facebook group to see if they had any suggestions. I was not devoted entirely to crochet- knitting would be just fine, and they may have ideas for a hat style that would be knit. (Correction- we had wires crossed and she suggested the Living History Knits group. I’ll try that one next time!)

Knitted Hood with Swansdown Border, 1864. Source- New York Public Library

I asked. And many lovely people did suggest patterns. The pattern suggestions were more like traditional hoods (think-knit bonnets), and not the perch-on-top style. I figured that would be the more typical historical style. My friend agreed that there *were* authentic styles closer to the Little House bonnet.

I was determined that there *must* have been something closer, and I *must* find it. After all, if I’ve learned anything through all my years of historical fashion study, never say “they didn’t.”

Little House itself was *supposed* to be set in the 1880s, I believe. But Westerns are *seldom* historically accurate, and often mix up things from the 1850s all the way through the 1900s, in uniquely their own style. So, I knew, when I researched, it would be unlikely that the hat style would originate in the actual historical period of the books. In fact, looking at it, I figured it would be, as my friend suggested, some sort of mid-19th century “cap”, if anything! And I knew that the long bits resembled lappets.

1860s bonnets. Image Source

So, I began my own quest. I searched for *hours*. Thank goodness so many historical primary sources are available online these days!

In the end, I found what I truly believe must have been the inspiration for Laura’s cap. It’s got all the same elements. It has the decorative border. The ear flaps. The ties. Even the same rosette!

Crochet Lamballe Fanchon, Harper’s Bazar, November 30, 1867. Source

For comparison, here’s the Little House version again:

Unfortunately for me, the crochet pattern was in the supplement to the issue, so it was on the pattern sheet insert. They seldom survived intact within the Harper’s Bazar issues (and note, this was when there was one “a” instead of two “aa”‘s as we got with later issues.)

So, there it is. The historical equivalent of the Little House on the Prairie crocheted hat. I know now that I *could* cobble together a historical version of the cap my little girl fell in love with.

I have since crocheted her a “hood”, which she has worn, but it’s always a possibility to come back to this style, now that I have found a historical source.

And as a side note- my post was deleted from the Facebook group because it was “not relevant.” I don’t see how asking for the historical inspiration for a film costume, and actually *tracking down the style* isn’t relevant to historical needlework- having said I was happy to substitute for knitting. So, I’m documenting here so others can learn from my journey, if they are so inclined, and I wanted a tangible little post somewhere to document what I found. I thought it quite fascinating!

That was a fun little side trip! Hope you’re all having a lovely beginning of Autumn!