Hi all,

I’ve had a few questions about dress boning lately, my favorite is Rigilene 1/2″ wide. I used it a lot when I made wedding dresses.

If you’ve had trouble finding Dress Boning to make the Chelsea Sun Hat. Here are some alternatives…

Giant Cable ties available at Home Depot and hardware stores. You’ll need two to make one hat. Just use your junk scissors to cut the chunky end off and thread them into the brim edge overlapping.

My husband suggested plastic pipe strapping, used to hold pipes in place in building (can you tell we renovated our house). I’m not sure how wide this is, it might be too wide for the brim edge. Available at hardware stores.

For those that like to live dangerously. You could use a section of an old metal tape measure. Be extremely careful when cutting, wrap the ends in masking tape. Again be sure the tape measure overlaps by at least 10″. Be very careful if you choose this option. Those tape measures are really sharp and it’ll be on your head!

Cheers Sewing Sue