HOW TO KNIT A HAT LIKE PRINCESS MARGARET'S.

Princess Margaret in a Christian Dior gown.

People have always been starved for a royal role model and Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, filled the gap in the mid-20th century. She was quite the fashion trend-setter and social topic of conversation, sometimes not all that positive. Heavy is the head that doesn't wear the crown, as Prince Andrew and Prince Harry have proved. While the next-in-line sibling must be proper at all times, the younger one is a bit more free to have fun and make mistakes. In Margaret's case, she was also the prettier sister (well, the same can be said for the brothers, Charles and Andrew!). Not to say that Elizabeth hasn't always been a very attractive woman.

Sisters Margaret and Elizabeth as teenagers.

I hate to break it to you, but the hat I'm presenting is hardly an elegant fashion statement. Apparently, Margaret was seen wearing something along these lines, and young women throughout the Commonwealth copied it. 

HOW TO KNIT A HAT LIKE PRINCESS MARGARET'S.

The Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. Australia ), 21 September 1952. Click here for link.

PRINCESS MARGARET is the unchallenged fashion leader for Britain's younger set. Whenever she wears a new hat, thousands of young women make haste to copy it. If you want to be in the Royal fashion and wear a hat like Princess Margaret's, here is your opportunity.

Here are instructions for knitting a saucy little flower-pot model that captured fashion headlines when the Princess wore it recently.

Materials required: 2oz 3 ply fingering wool; pair No 10 (US 3, 3.25 mm)needles.

Measurements: All round head, 21in: top rim circumference, 12in.

Tension: 7 sts to an inch; 7 rows to an inch.

And here is the finished hat knitted by our knitting expert.

Cast on 149 sts, using 2 balls of wool and working with double wool through out.

1st row: Kl, *wf, slip1 as if for purling,K tog. Repeat from * to end of row, ending K1.

2^nd row: Kl, *wf, slip1 as if for purling,K tog. next st and the long st, which is over it. Repeat from * to end row, ending K 1. (This is brioche pattern.)

Repeat 2nd row for 2½in (18 rows).

Next row:.* K 2 tog. Work in patt to end row,ending K 1. Repeat this row from* 16 times, leaving 132 sts on needle.

Next row: Work in patt. Ending K 1.

Work a further 8 rows, till work measures 4½ in from edge.

BRIM SHAPING – Work 62 sts in patt. Turn.

Work back 32 sts. Turn.

Work 24 sts. Turn.

Work back 18sts. Turn.

Work 12 sts. Turn.

Work back to end row,ending K 1.

Next row: Work in patt throughout.

CROWN: 1st row: K 2 tog throughout row, leaving 66 sts.

2nd row: P throughout row.

3rd row: K 1,inc 1 st into 2nd st and every other st except last 2 sts,K (98 sts on needle).

4^th row:K 1 * wf, slip1 as if for purling, K 2 tog. Repeat from* to end row, ending K 1.

5^th row:K 1 * wf, slip1 as if for purling, K tog next st and long st, which is over it. Repeat from * to end row, ending K I.

Repeat 5th row for 2 in (14 rows). Cast off. Join two back edges together, holding flat between fingers, with a flat overstitch. Do not raise seam.

Roll over ½ in of crown top and sew inside with matching wool.(Do not press.) Attach a length of ribbon velvet round nipped crown of hat and tie bow in front or at back. This hat clings to the head because of solid texture of the brioche knitting, but if a lining is required, use a length of any lining fabric 5 in wide by 22 in long. Join to inside brim edge of hat and arrange in flat pleats where the crown begins. If making the hat smaller or larger, always cast on sufficient sts to be divisible by 3 with 2 over.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/98356093?searchTerm=knit%20princess%20margaret&searchLimits=l-illustrated=true