This article first appeared in HaTalk Magazine; You will find the pattern at the end of the article.
Hats have been made from straw for millennia and decorated with straw for centuries. This vintage straw ornament most likely from the 60s because it was made with a synthetic plait. It is not all that difficult to make and can be just the touch to elevate a plain straw sunhat to another level. The vintage ornament was made from a narrow 4-4.5mm synthetic straw plait.
I used a 5mm real wheat straw but, because straw plait as narrow as that is difficult to get I’m recommending what is called Swiss straw. (1b) In the 5mm width it will work well for the leaves and flowers. You can find it sold on sites that sell doll making supplies. The nice thing about the Swiss straw is that it comes in so many colors and is not overly shiny. When working with Swiss straw make sure not to touch the iron to the straw when you are steaming as it can melt.
The measurements and amounts in this article are for 5mm wide plait (braid). If you are using 6mm straw sometimes called Milan straw you need to multiply everything by 120% and enlarge the pattern drawings to 120%. You can resize the patterns for any width straw you just need to divide the width in mm by 5 then multiply the results by 100 and that will give you the percent by which you need to enlarge the pattern.
Materials & supplies
~26” thread covered stem wire, color matched to your straw (can be done with a permanent marker)
~ 4.5 yards of straw plait 5mm wide
Matching heavy nylon thread
Small ball of cotton
Glue
Clips
Block of styrofoam covered in aluminum foil
Metal headed fine sewing pins
Fine sewing needle
Large eyed sewing needle
Cut
6 pieces of wire 1X4”, 1X5.25”, 2X4.5” and 2X3.75”
5 pieces of plait for the leaves 16” long
6 pieces of plait for petals 7.5” long
1 piece of plait for flower center 8” long
1 piece of plait to cover the leaf stem 12” long
1 piece of plait to cover the flower stem 8” long
Flower Center:
1. Slip the end of the 8” long piece of plait into the eye of the needle and spin the needle with your ringer tips to cause the plait to wrap around the needle. Do this for four or five turns.
2. Release the straw from the needle, it should stay in a spiral.
3. Without the needle rewrap the straw for about 1-2 tight turns, add a small dot of glue and pass a pin thru the straw to keep it in place while the glue dries.
4. When dry continue wrapping the plait around until you reach the end and add a drop of glue.
5. Hold the end in place while the glue dries with a clip.
6. Compress some cotton until it is small enough to slip under the straw spiral to create a mounded shape.
7. Use needle and thread to sew the ball of cotton in place.
8. Also sew from the edge to the center and from the center to the edge.
9. Do this on both sides.
Flower Petals:
1-3. Repeat steps 1-3 above with all the 6 petal pieces.
4. Pin the paper pattern piece to the styrofoam block and pin a petal spiral to the paper matching the center. Continue wrapping the plait around and adding pins to keep it matching the pattern. When you reach the end stick a pin horizontally thru the spiral.
5. Remove all but the horizontal pin to release it from the foam.
6. Run a stitch from the outside near the end of the plait to the center and then back, twice.
7. Repeat steps 1-6 with the other 5 petal pieces.
8. Line up one of the petal pieces and the center and sew them together by sewing back and forth thru the outside spirals. This is easier from the backside.
9. Do the same steps with all 6 petals. Hold the petals together by stitching thru one petal at a time going thru center (tightest curl) to the edge and them from the edge to the next petals center (tightest curl). Do that until you come back around, pull the thread to adjust and then knot off.
10. Bend the very end of the 4” piece of wire over.
11. Sew it to the back of the flower.
12. Glue the leaf stem piece of plait to the back of the flower just over the wire and at an angle, clip.
13. Wrap the plait tightly around the stem but do not overlap until you reach the end of the wire, glue and clip it.
Leaves:
Natural wheat straw plait has a front and a backside. The frontside is smooth and the backside is rougher. Usually you want to avoid showing the backside but on the leaves you can’t avoid that because you will be making two types of turns; a loop and a fold. With the loops, when you make a turn the same side is uppermost before and after the turn but with a fold a different side is uppermost.
You can see that in the figure to the left. When you start with the right side up and have completed all the turns loop 2 and 4 will have the backside up, see fig. 1b. If you are working with real wheat straw you will need to check the backside for any tail ends of the straw stems and clip them close to the plait.
1. Pin the paper leaf pattern over a block of styrofoam covered in foil. Pin the plait down to the block at the center and make the first loop around a pin, come back to the start and make the first fold then, pin this down.
2. Make the second loop and the second fold and pin it to the block.
3. Continue with the third and fourth loop and folds.
4. Make the fifth loop and pin it to the block. Add pins about half way up the leaf spacing the plait so that they overlap each other about 1/2 their widths.
5. Push the pins in all the way and steam press. Remove the straw from the block but keep the one pin in the center. If you are using synthetic straw do not touch the iron to the straw.
6. Sew the layers of plait together at the center, see fig. 1c.
7. Fold the tail to the back and sew it down, see fig. 1d.
8. Without cutting the thread make a small stitch to hold layers together across the middle, see fig. 1e.
9. Without cutting the thread make a stitch near the tip of the loop between each loop pull the thread enough to cause the points to come together and overlap a little, see fig. 1f.
10. Repeat with the other four leaves.
11. Bend down one end of the stem wires as you did with the flower wire.
12. Sew one wire to the backside of each of the straw leaves.
13. Bend the wires into the shapes shown.
14. Glue the leaf stem piece of plait to the back of the center leaf.
15. Glue the stem wires together and clip.
16. Wrap the plait tightly around the wire at an angle and do not overlap, about 1 to 2” from the bottom add in the flower stem, continue wrapping. When you reach the end start wrapping the plait up the stem and sew it down when it runs out.
Finished ornament.
Vintage ornament side by side with the reproduction
An ornament made with dyed wheat 6mm straw.
Most anything that can be done with paper quilling can be done with straw. As an example I made this simple double spiral with some natural 6mm straw (36-37) and added it to a 1930s-1940s style straw sunhat along with a leftover leaf from the 6mm straw ornament. (38-39)
Pattern