Casgliadau Arlein

Black widow's cap constructed from grey felt trimmed with band of white felt along front edge. The grey felt is folded and stitched in place in order to create a three-dimensional shape to fit the head. A wide strip of black silk fabric has been folded in half at the centre front of the cap and has been draped, pleated and stitched to the felt. The ends are trimmed with a 12cm section of black machine made lace, stitched on by hand.
The cap has two black satin ties to fasten under the chin; these are made from a double-thickness of fabric with a machine-stitched seam along their length. The ends are trimmed to a point and the right side is finished with machine stitches, while the left is finished by hand. The outside edge of the black fabric covering the cap has a selvage edge, whereas the inner edge has a narrow turned-back seam which is secured with hand-sewn running stitch. The selvage on the left side has stitch marks from a former (machine-made?) seam. Evidence of two rows of previous machine made stitches also on left section of veil, above lace panel.