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Permalink Reply by Bridget Early March 25, 2016 at 2:57am

Millinery buckram is an open weave cotton fabric that is coated with stiffener. It is generally purchased by the yard, off of a roll.  When it is moist, it can then be stretched and formed on a block.  It is then left to dry, so that it will hold shape. It can also be used to help stiffen ornamentation. For most day or evening hats, one layer of buckram generally suffices.  If you are making a hat for theater, or one that will receive a lot of rough handling, purchase theatrical buckram, or use 2-3 layers of the general millinery grade of buckram.  The buckram can be covered with silk, satin, linen, and other fabrics, if the milliner wishes.  This is one of the fabrics used to make all those beautiful silk covered hats the women wear in the old western movies.  I am not familiar with any millinery buckram that comes with "adhesive."  The stiffener is a heavy "starch" type stiffener.  Good quality buckram hats have been known to last 100 years, with care.

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Permalink Reply by Victoria Regina March 31, 2016 at 5:05am

Hi Ciara,

Just to add to what Bridget said. I use buckram a lot & its very simple to use. I can see where there can be confusion because it can be called out by the count or the ply.  One-ply is the standard and it comes in light, medium or heavy weight. If you want to do like Bridget suggests and use it for theater then you can buy Two-ply. I just layer the general millinery grade like Bridget said.  Stay away from the buckram that they sell in fabric stores, sometimes its called out as Unicorn buckram. Its meant for stiffening collars & takes alot of layers for our use.

To use it just run it slightly under the faucet then block. It can take a while to stiffen. My altitude is 5,280 feet above sea level & it takes 3- 6 hrs to dry.

Enjoy!

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