Quick Trip Down Bavo-lane

In preparation for a straw bonnet workshop I am teaching at the 1860's Civilian Celebration at Capon Springs in May, I have been making curtain/bavolet and facing kits.  As I cut the silk, I thought "wow these look really long."  I pulled out  Drawn Bonnets: Examination and Construction because I knew I took detailed measurements in writing that book.  I found that I had a measurement on how long the curtain would hang on the neck, but not a length measurement from point to point.  So I soon found myself in a pile of originals with a measuring tape before taking my children to school.  That is why I have all of these bonnets after all.  I pulled 18 circa 1855-1865 bonnets that still had curtains (a lot of extant bonnets are missing curtains).  The curtains I measured ranged from 16 to 28 inches in length.  The average was 20".  The most common measurement was 20".  I looked at the longest and shortest measurements to see if that changed with bonnet style.  In the group there are three very high brimmed bonnets. Two high brim bonnet curtains measured longer than 26" and the other curtain measured 17".  I thought the mid 1860s bonnets with shorter points would have the shorter curtains, but that wasn't the case.  They were still measuring about 20".  I also wondered if there would be a difference between straw and silk.  The straw bonnet curtains ranged from 16 to 27".  The silk bonnets curtains ranged from 16 to 28".  Most of the curtains were flat on the sides of the bonnets with the gathers or pleats concentrated at the center back with many of them being wired at the bottom edge.