Well, I was afraid the terminology would become an issue. I was under the impression that a round or floral shape was properly called a rosette, whilst the rectangular shape was a more generic cockade. But I concede. Surely there's a better term than "bow" or "ribbon". This is not really a bow, which is a tied ribbon. And it's not just a simple ribbon, either.

Whatever we call it, I realised that there's more to it than I thought. Looking carefully at the (insert preferred descriptor here) on my Mackie Balmoral (Lovat green shown below), I noticed that the backing ribbon has the grain running horizonally, and the front gathered ribbon has the grain running vertically. It is not as simple as laying two lengths of ribbon on top of each other the same direction and gathering the front layer. They are perpendicular to each other, which means the top gathered layer is made from ribbon wider than 3 inches.

Even the one on my cheap Asian version (desert tan colour with black ribbon below) has the grain running opposite directions.

Interestingly, the Mackie is only stitched to the bonnet at the ends, but the top and bottom are not stitched. I put my fingers in there to show it. But the middle of the gathered portion is stitched down to the bonnet. The one on the Asian-produced version is stitched all around the perimeter.



I appreciate the references to Thompson's book, but I don't own it. Nor do I intend to buy it. There is some advice in that book that caused me to decide I really don't want to spend my money on it. So I'll continue to think it out myself and look for other sources/examples on how to do it, should I decide to go forward with it.