1840s Cap or Why Do They Wear Diapers on Their Heads???

I want to make an 1840s day dress - nothing fancy, just a plain everyday dress to wear at Dickens Faire or some of the other Gold Rush Era events in my area. However, I am many pounds heavier than I'd like to be and want to get back to the size of my other costumes (because I am lazy and don't want to remake them!).  I have the fabric, I have the pattern.  What to do?  Sew all the accessories first! That's the ticket!

Here is the pattern I'm using. After making a paper mock up, I thought it was a bit too small so I added an inch to the crown (I have a lot of hair) and an inch to the face framing part.  That was a mistake because I failed to account for the flounces.  Oh, well, I'll make it work.

I started by thinking I was going to hand sew the entire thing.  After embroidering the designs (I don't know how to embroider by hand, so this is my first try), I decided to screw the hand sewing.  Hey, I'm looking at miles of little flounces.  Of course I'm using a machine.  If I ever become a docent somewhere, I'll redo the sucker by hand, but in the meantime.....

I made a few mistakes.  I forgot to add the side casings and had to put them on after the cap was finished.  More hand sewing. All in all, it looks OK, but I'm not a fan of the "droopy" look of the 1840s, the demure Victorian.  Droopy hair, droopy shoulders and, now, a droopy cap.

I must say, this is the dumbest looking thing I've ever stuck on my head. That said...

Stay tuned as I plan to create that Oh-So-Fashionable Coal Scuttle Bonnet, the one that was was caricatured vehemently during the Victorian times - You know, the one that makes it impossible to see anything coming at you from the side, the one that makes it impossible to hear that horse drawn carriage careening at you in the street, the ever-demur Coal Scuttle Bonnet!