STRAW HOODS--METHOD OF PREPARING AND OF WEAVING THE FIBRES
The previous chapter has dealt with the materials used in plait and
the incidental processes necessary to the preparation of the fibres,
because plait is undoubtedly at the present day the principal medium
for the fashionable straw hat. As the opening chapter proves, the
earliest periods of the use of vegetable fibres for head coverings
were entirely devoted to the weaving of the hat in one piece, as, for
example, a basket is woven. In fact, the use of plait braid has been
adopted only for about 400 years, but, although large quantities of
woven hats still continue to be made, plait has gradually taken the
premier place. But any description of the straw hat trade would be
incomplete without a proper account of the woven hat or “hood,” as it
is termed in the trade, the word “hat” implying the finished article.
In the first place the fibres that can be made into plait can also
be made into hoods, for any fibre capable of being manipulated in
plaitting can be woven. (The term “woven” is used in want of a better,
because the action needed is really more what is generally known as
“weaving” than “plaitting,” although both processes are done by hand,
with one or two minor exceptions.) There are, however, several fibres
that are woven into hoods that are not generally utilized for making
plaits, although quite suitable, but their nature is such as to demand
a different preparatory treatment to any of those essentially straw.
These are the “Panama” and the Panama imitations or substitutes.
Among the substitutes are “Curaçoas,” “Bowens,” “Jipi-Japas,” etc.;
and the imitations are “Javas,” “Bankoks,” “Brazilians,” “Manilas”
and “Paper Panamas” made from strips of paper rolled to imitate, and
they do imitate very closely, the natural fibre used in the real
Panama. A description of the true “Panama” fibre will give an insight
into the nature of all the substitutes, the preparations for weaving
being nearly identical in every case. The origin of the Panama hat
is obscured in oblivion, but the source of supply ranges round about
Central America, and from Ecuador claims are made that in the province
of Manavi, a native named Francisco Delgado first made a Panama hat
about 300 years ago. This very Spanish name for a native evokes a
suspicion that the date given was the first _Spanish_ record of the
matter, for it is most probable that the making of grass fibre hats
in the Western Hemisphere was, like it has been shown to be in the
Eastern, of the most remote antiquity. But researches made by our
Consular Office can only supply the above information. The material
used is derived from a kind of native palm or palm grass known as _paja
toquilla_, and resembles, in its fan like shape, the _saw palmetto_.
Cultivation usually takes place in selected low-hung wet lands, and the
seed is planted in rows during the rainy season. When the grass attains
a height of 4-1/2 to 5 ft., it is cut just before ripening, boiled in
water, and after being thoroughly dried in the sun, is sorted through
very carefully. The actual selection of fibres for the best class hat
is most thorough, and all unlikely leaves are rejected.
Those finally selected are in some districts, such as Manavi, dampened
with water to make them tough, pliable, and amenable to stripping
into the required widths. In Columbia, where the “Palmicha” is used,
the leaves are boiled for a certain time till they soften and turn a
light yellow in colour. This process of boiling is an art in itself,
and seems to present greater difficulties without corresponding
advantages to the simple damping. The leaves done by either method
are then separated and hung to dry in a current of air, but not in
the sun. Before they are quite dry the splitting operation commences;
this is still done in some districts in the primitive method by the
thumb-nail of the operator, in others a Y-shaped wooden tool is used.
The splints, when being split are made to curl slightly at the edges,
causing the fibre to assume a roundness. The subsequent drying causes
this roundness to become permanent. They are then made into suitable
bundles, and wrapped in clean damp cloths to protect them from the dry
atmosphere as well as from the light. The hood weavers commence at the
apex of crown and continue the weaving in a circular and transverse
manner, until the edge of the brim is reached, when a double “return”
is made to give strength and form to the hat. Some centres use wooden
blocks, on which the hood is shaped during its progress of weaving,
others follow simply the primitive method of rule of thumb, but during
late years the demand for larger head entries to Panama hats has caused
a more general using of either the wooden block or a suitable template
in order that the size of the crowns may be more uniform.
In some places the various parts of the hood are made by different
operatives, thus the crown or the top only may be woven by one, the
side of crown by another, and the brim by a third; generally there are
two.
[Illustration: Fig. 7 PANAMA HOOD MAKING--TYPICAL OF WORK ON ALL WOVEN
STRAW HATS]
In order to achieve the best results the weaving has to be done in a
very humid atmosphere, and to take advantage of that condition, and
to ensure continuity, the work is sometimes accomplished between
midnight and 7 a.m. during the dry season. Some writers on this subject
assert that Panamas are woven _under_ water, the operator using a
bowl; some _may_ have been, but this was probably a freak experiment,
as in all the many districts where hats of this kind are made the
only desideratum is full natural humidity. When the hood is finished
the ends or “speels” of the strands, where the _setts-in_ and the
_setts-out_ take place, are carefully pared off with a sharp knife or
scissors, and the hat is battered all over with a small wooden mace
in order to make it as smooth as possible. It is then washed, in some
places with clean cold water only, in others with soap and water, and
in some with soap and water combined with lime-juice; drying in the
sun completes the operations of making the hood. What are here known
as “Jipi Japas” are so closely allied to the true Panama that only an
expert can differentiate between them. The material used is almost
always identical and is prepared in the same way. There is, however, a
slight difference in the method of weaving, and the finish generally
speaking, is not of such a high standard. They are made principally
in the province of Manavi, in Ecuador. Another variety, very similar,
taking its name from the district in which it is made, is called
“Suaza.” The really fine specimens of the Panama hat appear to be
produced in Columbia, and are made in the departments of Santander,
Antisquia, Cauca, and Tolima.
The local generic name for all these hoods is “Jipi-Japa,” but the
name “Panama” was applied to them because Panama was the port from
which they were shipped, and this name for the best quality obtains
generally throughout the world. A really fine hood would take two or
three months to make, but the bulk probably do not exceed two or three
weeks’ work. Some districts look to the making as regular employment,
and the operatives work the whole available time in the day, while
others regard it as a side line, and utilize only their spare time. A
very similar arrangement to this was common among the straw plaitters
of England, and in both cases the bulk of the workers were women.
Latterly in the Central American States men have been more employed in
the industry.
The “Curaçoa” (or as it should properly be spelt Curaçao) comes from
the island of the same name in the Caribbean Sea. When made the hoods
are of a light creamy fawn colour, and are made out of fibres imported
from the neighbouring mainland of Venezuela. The method of weaving is
similar to that of Panama hats, but the strands are of a much coarser
texture.
“Bowens” or “Pandans” are made principally by Chinese labour in the
island of Sumatra. They are generally, although some are of split
fibres, made of a whole natural raffia-like grass which is indigenous.
They are extremely low in price, and although coarse looking are very
serviceable hats. When properly bleached, after going through a variety
of chemical colour changes, they assume an excellent white.
Another variety of hood, of which only a limited quantity have been
used, owing to its many undesirable features, is the “Hinoki.” This is
made of Chinese raffia by native labour, and is similar to the “Bowen,”
but the nature of the fibre is such as to make it decidedly inferior
among the Panama imitations. “Javas” are perhaps the most peculiar and
wonderful in their working. They are made of perfectly flat splints
obtained from bamboo-like palms, and are woven in all degrees of
fineness, but their great peculiarity lies in the fact that they are
double, the hoods when marketed having a finely woven exterior and an
inside lining much coarser in texture attached only to the outer one
at the edge of the brim. At one time they commanded a large trade,
but demand for them has greatly diminished in Europe. “Bankoks” are
similarly flat splint hoods of one thickness, but the fibre of which
they are composed is an inner one, the outer and harder portion being
taken away. They have the merit of extreme lightness of weight and can
be successfully dyed in any colour but with little sheen. “Brazilians”
are not unlike “Javas,” but are of one thickness only, and the fibre
used is more stubborn than that of the “Java.”
“Manilas” are also woven in like manner to a Panama, but they can be
obtained both single and double like a “Java.” The fibre used for them
is hemp, the “splints” of which are fine strips of two or more strands
of hemp laid flat. This variety of hood is capable of being dyed to any
colour, and unlike either of its _confrères_, has a brilliant sheen
when finished. All these “imitations” derive their name in some way
from their places or ports of origin.
“Paper Panamas” are the latest Japanese production, imitating some
models first made in France. By appearance alone they can hardly be
selected from the real article except to experts, it is only the
difference in weight and greater regularity of colour, that discloses
their nature. But they have not the same wearing capabilities, for
while a real Panama can, and often does, last longer than its wearer’s
lifetime, the sham one is nearly worthless after the first season’s use.
Other hoods are made of “chip” (generally of wider splints than those
used for making plait); of “rush,” “yedda,” “raffia,” and other similar
materials, in fact each succeeding season generally sees some novelty
of fibre introduced. Of rush hoods there are two varieties, one of the
fine, rather hard, but very tough rushes that usually grow in England
by the wayside; these are made in the greatest quantities in China, and
wonderful ingenuity is displayed in their finish. The other variety is
that of the pithy “rush” such as one may gather in the Fens, and which
is to be found in quantities in the Lombardy marshes; these are used
for making both plait and hoods which are very light in weight.
“Yedda” is the inner cuticle of an exotic plant, which has great
toughness and is very light in weight, but, owing to the growth of the
plant, can only be obtained in very short lengths, this of necessity
making both plaitting and weaving more difficult.
“Raffia” is the substance known to gardeners, and makes an excellent
medium for plait and hoods on account of its lightness, its toughness
and the great length of its staple. There are other natural fibres that
have been utilized for hood weaving by hand, but the above-mentioned
are the principal ones. In addition there are some hoods made of
machine woven plait of hemp, cotton, silk, or imitation silk fibres.
Although the first named is frequently worked alone, the others are
generally woven with other materials. A hood of straws machine woven
with the aid of a cotton, hemp, or silk fibre emanates from Switzerland
and Italy, and is extremely light in weight. Sometimes the straws are
utilized whole in these hoods, but more generally they are split. In
both cases the straws are dyed or bleached before weaving.
All these hoods are utilized for making men’s or ladies’ hats, and
except in a few cases they are imported in the natural colour,
requiring bleaching or dyeing before entering the actual hat making
process.
It is perhaps necessary to add that hoods of splints cut from palm
leaves imported from Cuba, were made during some years at St. Albans.
The result was similar to a “Brazilian” (in fact, they went under that
name), being woven by hand in the villages round the city, and blocked
into proper shape and trimmed in the St. Albans factories. The trade
languished when French competition arose, Strasburg and Nancy being the
most successful European competitors. “Panamas” or hoods made from the
fibre imported from the West Indies have also been made in these last
mentioned centres.