How to make a nautilus cockade

Having seen a vintage cloche featuring a grosgrain nautilus cockade I want to make one. I can't find any instructions anywhere. A friend is sure she has seen some in a millinery book but can't remember which one.

Can anyone recommend a book that might help me? At the moment I am pleating up the grosgrain with a thread and then pinning it out onto a foam ball to get the right shape but I wondered if there are some tips out there to make it easier. I know it's probably just a variation of a plain round cockade but help would be appreciated.

This is the vintage one which inspired me.

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Permalink Reply by edith f March 12, 2014 at 5:44pm

Try Ruth singer book she is .com and you can buy direct signed copy from her site .....or Amazon. Also there is creating ribbon flowers book by Nicholas kniel which has different styles of cockades etc! All the best

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Brake May 24, 2017 at 10:51am

Thanks Edith, I'll have a look.

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Permalink Reply by Austin Gray May 24, 2017 at 10:07am

I took class from Candace Kling and I have some info that can help you making a nautilus. Candace uses a pleating board and a porcupine quill. The pleating board she makes herself by cutting slats from card board and taping them to a flat board at maybe a quarter of an inch a part (you can play with this). Then, she lays the ribbon on top and pushes it into the slats using the porcupine quill. When she gets the ribbon into the pleater correctly, she uses a steam iron to set the ribbon with those pleats. Once removed, you just need to sew.

I hope that helps!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Brake May 24, 2017 at 10:53am

Thanks Austin,
That would make it a lot easier.
Are the slats all parallel to each other or do they spiral like the nautilus and fan out?

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Permalink Reply by Austin Gray May 24, 2017 at 11:24am

Good question. They're parallel - just like a regular pleater. But you reminded me of something I left out. She placed the ribbon into the pleater at an angle - like the top would start on the left side and angle down to the right. Then, when she machine sewed one side the ends - they would show that angle. This picture is a good example. The bottom edge is sewn together. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/71635450295984938/

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Brake May 24, 2017 at 1:35pm

Aha! Yes, that would work! Thankyou so much.

If I lived in the US I'd have tried to get to one of her courses. And I hadn't seen that picture on Pinterest so that's great!
Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Austin Gray May 25, 2017 at 3:30am

I am terribly impressed with the nautilus you made without a pleater. I could barely create one in her class with help!

If you give me a couple of days, I am going to dig up some books that will help you. I think Candace didn't demonstrate some of these skills in her books because you can find instructions in some older books that are in reprint. I'll reply when I get the titles.

If you ever do come to the states you can look for her classes on her website here:

http://www.candacekling.com/classes.htm

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Brake May 25, 2017 at 2:15pm

Oh goodness me, no, no, no, I didn't make it.
It's one I saw on a vintage hat and fell in love with. I bought a couple of modern made ones on Etsy so I could decorate a hat I made for my sister who is into all things 'seashell' by nature.
No, I started to make one by pinning pleats to a foam ball (to get a curved back) but gave up in frustration. I don't know if I took a photo of my attempt or not. I shall have a look.
I'd appreciate any assistance with actually making one of these. I gave up looking at old millinery books because I could never find one.
I suspect I'll be all thumbs but if I can make something like it, I'll be ecstatic.
I wrote to Candace when I was first looking for instruction and suggested she could make a bomb by doing video lessons for non US based people like me.

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Permalink Reply by Austin Gray June 1, 2017 at 2:36am

One more thing that might help - I have an album on Flickr where you can see the pleater and process for making the nautilus cockade. Some of these photos will help a lot.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/1hipchik/a0FLYP