A process common to both hand and machine sewing is the “milling” of plait before using. This obtains mainly, if not wholly, on plaits made of straw. In hand sewing times it was an absolute necessity, as it imparted a requisite pliability to the somewhat harsh fibres, and permitted their easier adjustment in sewing to the requirements of the shape. It also, on those plaits which had “heads,” accentuated the difference between the head and the foot, giving a greater boldness of effect. The mills used for this purpose were made with beech wood frames and with boxwood rollers. Generally these rollers were designed and cut to take all widths of plait, and the “trolls,” as the individual grooves were designated, were made with a double recess, the smaller one of which permitted the head of the plait to escape the pressure exerted on the foot. (_See_ Fig. 15.) When the extra demand for machine made hats arose it was found that the harsher plaits of China were too wearing on the wooden rollers, and mills made of iron were produced, but on the same active principles as shown above. To-day the majority of plaits used in the trade are not milled, only the coarser and harder straw varieties being occasionally done. All Tagal and soft pedal plaits can be machined without milling, owing to the pressure mechanism which is now part of all the plait sewing machines. CHAPTER X STIFFENING The general description of the actual sewing of a straw hat, whether by hand or machine, must be followed by the statement that when sewn the hat is invariably in a limp condition, that is it is quite unfit for general wear. There are some few plaits, when made into hats, so firm in their consistency as to require little or even no assistance to keep them in shape. These shapes are mainly of the “floppy” order, and are designed either to wear as “picture” hats or to be manipulated in such a manner as to make a “toque” effect. From the earliest period of making hats for fashionable wear, and that certainly is not more than two centuries ago, some process was necessary to keep the hat, whether woven or sewn, in the required shape. The first methods were by the insertion of a kind of wicker foundation, which allowed the shape to be moulded to it; and by similar materials threaded through the rows of the plait, or being attached thereto by sewing; also by fine wires which were utilized in the same way as the wicker. Whalebone was also used as a support, and in the construction of the huge hats common during the Georgian period, cardboard and buckram were used. But all these articles, effective though they might have been, were of such great weight that means were sought to find a medium that would give the desired result without increasing the weight. One must remember that with the use of whole straws a hat of large size would be very heavy without the addition of wicker, wire, or buckram, and when, during the craze for French fashions which followed the