CROCHET, BONNET
An intricate hand crocheted lady’s nightcap bought in the Holy Land in 1918.
Owned by the donor’s English grandmother who moved to South Australia in 1914 when she married her Australian husband, an Anglican priest.
The nightcap is beautifully crocheted with a variety of patterns – frilled brim, bands of plain crochet , floral medallions, and the crown has an octagonal shape with rhombus shapes with bobbles and a floral medallion in the centre. It had no ties which were added in 2025.
One section on crown, stained, and broken fibres mended in 2025.
Head coverings for both day and night have been worn by women for centuries. Nightcaps reflected religious modesty, kept head warm in unheated cottages, protected elaborate hairstyles and kept out dust and insects when living in thatched cottages.
