Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Last year, I made an oilcloth surcote for foul-weather Rangering purposes. At that point in time, I lived in Northern California, and had no intention or replicating that project in other materials.

Upon moving back here, to the midwest, I was soon greeted by (and reminded of) humidity...and that pretty much threw the whole project out the window. Oilcloth just isn't practical as a garment material in this climate because the humidity gets under it, and can't come back out. Drenched, I believe, would be an appropriate word. Back to the drawing board, and boy am I glad I did.

This new version is made of 100% wool "Brown Kersey" broadcloth from Wm. Booth Draper, and some 100% linen remnants I found in the scrap bin at JoAnns for the trim, which have been lightly dyed in a walnut bath. This wool is an absolutely fantastic material. Years ago, I believe Wulfgar here on the forums stated that he'd prefer to "leave blankets as blankets and use fabrics as fabrics" (inexact quote) during a discussion about sewing with army surplus blankets. After several years of slowly moving away from the surplus wool blends, having had this material under my needle for six weeks and now wearing it as I type, I couldn't agree more. It's thinner, lighter, not scratchy, AND WARMER, all at once. Fabric is for fabric. Blankets stay blankets. Got it, friend.

I patterned this Surcote off of my last one, but tapered the skirts out a bit more, as would be more historically noted than the straight rectangle my oilcloth one was. Oilcloth doesn't drape well, so it was necessary, but I was allowed more freedom in that regard because of the nature of this wool, and the fit and fall are far more fashionable (dare I say it) than the previous. From an in-character perspective, much of my garb is somewhat...hastily stitched. This one is meant to be a bit more of an heirloom piece. In a Ranger's context, these longer drapey bits really aren't necessary, but since we have surcote references in Gondor, and an understanding of the garment's significance in history, it stands to reason as a piece that would be worn as an extra, rather than a necessity. For this reason, I took my time and tried to make it a bit 'nice', instead of just "rugged".

That six week statement was true. Once again, I've overbuilt something. This project would've been done in a third of the time if I'd used a running stitch and would have been plenty durable, but I spent the extra time on the stitching as a bit of decor. I've got some simple embroidery planned for this as well, but I wanted the stitching itself to be somewhat decorative, so it took about as much time as an actual gored tunic would have taken...maybe longer. Weeks ago I told Udwin to stop me if I ever start planning another Surcote.
Front/Belt line... Hip, where I'm thinking I'll embroider something simple when I'm ready to touch this again... Neckline... AND.
This is a stunning pair of linen Thorsberg trousers I commissioned through Udwin, which arrived via post today. I braided the hemp drawstring, but he did everything else. They'll go in some dye down the road, but they fit perfectly, and are super comfy. Many thanks! The plan with these thorsbergs is to use them as all-season pants, with a catch: I'm converting my old wool drawstring pants into some crude Chausses to slip over the Thorsbergs in colder/inclement weather, so I don't have to carry two completely separate pairs of pants, or take off one to don the other.

Cheers!

Oh my....

... that is gorgeous work. It's perfect!
I do love that wool broadcloth - it works so well here!

I'm curious - what's your opinion of different slit orientations on the bottom portion - just the sides, just the front/back... or both, like here?
Have you tried other orientations and settled on this? Or has it always worked so well as is, there was never any reason to try something different?
Any snagging or other issues in the brush?

In the films, the Ithilien Rangers wear something that's essentially this, but no slits front or back. Commonly called a Tabard these days. Then, in Rohan, we have riders wearing scale maille all the way down past their knees, but slit in the fore and aft. Makes sense for riding armor, but if you want function in the woods, I'd stay away from both of those, in any material. Trying to step over/through/around anything while wearing one is not going to end well...and what's the point? I've had no issues with this design, and this fabric combo should wear very durably for the forseeable future. I spent six weeks poking it with a sharp stick...no brush scares me now.

EDIT: For the record, yes, I've actually tried both those options I just poo-pooed, back when material was cheap because I had nearly a dozen old army blankets to cut up. Both have since been used as scrap or gifted off to someone with less rigorous needs.

Great work, brother!

Cheap surplus wool blankets are, I believe, made from recycled wool, which would explain the scratchiness. Another theory, which is mine, is that the military intentionally makes their blankets scratchy in order to make their soldiers more fierce.

Anyway, this surcote can certainly be Ranger-practical since its lower parts will keep your upper legs warm, while not getting in your way as a long tunic might.

I definitely see what you mean about woolen chausses over the linen Thorsbjergs. It's one theory about the Viking "balloon" pants, and in snow (or rain) country, it would be very practical.

Ooo, that wool looks wonderful! As does the whole garment, of course! The linen trim will make a great platform for embroidery, but it also looks great the way it is.

Kortoso wrote:Cheap surplus wool blankets are, I believe, made from recycled wool, which would explain the scratchiness.

A lot of surplus blankets do have a high percentage of recycled wool, which has had all the natural waxes stripped out. One thing that can help with the scratchiness is to add some back in by treating the wool with lanolin. You can get it offline, of course, but some natural/organic grocery stores sometimes carry it to use on chapped skin. It can make the wool smell, well, "sheepy" if you use too much, but it helps condition and soften the fibers, as well as increasing the water resistance.

For what it's worth, I've heard hand-washing blankets with regular (or moisturizing!) hair conditioner can also help soften them up. Which figures, I reckon.

I've tried it and it didn't do any harm, but I had a nice soft blanket to begin with.
(You need to be careful drying it though, even handwash/dry - a waterlogged blanket is HEAVY and there's a good chance it will pull itself out of square. Which suits me just fine, but if you're picky, there's your warning.)

Greg, that is FANTASTIC work! Once again, raising that bar, 2017 is the year of the Ranger for the group! I can't wait to see what embellishments you decide to go with!

Ken

Mirimaran wrote:2017 is the year of the Ranger for the group!

I heartily agree. Some backwater boatman in the Anduin Valley and a little fellow in Bree have been giving us the what-for...time to play some catch-up!

Greg wrote:

Mirimaran wrote:2017 is the year of the Ranger for the group!

I heartily agree. Some backwater boatman in the Anduin Valley and a little fellow in Bree have been giving us the what-for...time to play some catch-up!

Ha!

For the record, yes, I've actually tried both those options I just poo-pooed, back when material was cheap because I had nearly a dozen old army blankets to cut up. Both have since been used as scrap or gifted off to someone with less rigorous needs.

That is really good to know, thank you.
I might have to go back to the drawing board for a couple pieces...

To expand on that, briefly: having no divide in the front not only snags on brush a great deal, but in the event that one has need of hopping on a horse in haste...

Having no divide to the sides does more harm than one would suppose. Depending on your material, but assuming we're using linen, wool, or leather, the friction between your legs and the panels to their sides makes the panels either swing wildly, or "catch" your legs, hindering running. If they're free-moving in all directions with divides fore, aft, port, and starboard, we don't have this problem. I wore the new one all day yesterday (from my little photo session at about 10 am, right after completion, on to bedtime) and had absolutely no mobility issues, no snags, no discomfort...and I took a short jog after you asked.

I've noticed that the linen-on-linen relationship between my thorsbergs and green tunic is far more friendly. There are no divides, but the gores and general low-friction allows movement quite well. Differing fabrics will catch each other far more...there have to be gores, divides, or some combination of the two (like caedmon's concept art of a gored tunic with a divide up the front he posted awhile back.)

If there's a real concern...I know you know what Muslin is for!

That surcoat looks awesome, I really like the design. I've been planning on making a jerkin or surcoat for some time, but I don't have any kind of template to base it off of. Do you think I could find a similar pattern online?

NorthernRanger wrote:That surcoat took awesome, I really like the design. I've been planning on making a jerkin or surcoat for some time, but I don't have any kind of template to base it off of. Do you think I could find a similar pattern online?

I too have been looking for something like this, but I really want to know how Greg made that green shirt he is wearing underneath the surcote (I've also seen him wearing a woollen one so would like to get some patterns for both) Basically what I'm saying is that I want to steal the idea.

psssst...

Budget Authenticity: Pattern/Instruction Nockert type 1

caedmon's got some awesome tutorials in this very forum.
He also has some stitchery articles in the newsletters.

Yep! Elleth has the right of it!

Also, I just finished making a new long vest/jerkin for my kit, and I would very much like to share the pattern, but I don't know how well I can translate it to digital form. I suppose I could try to just photograph it from above, but I'm a little concerned about distortion. One way or the other, a long vest is one of the easiest pieces of clothing to make, and even more so if you don't intend to line it. Surcoats are actually even easier in some regards, because they generally have fewer pieces.

I did manage a version of this for myself a while back, and *finally* managed to get out in it today. I have to say, that "four panel" architecture with slits both on the sides and front&back is just perfect! Even scrambling up a dirty hillside on hands and feet it didn't get in the way, which I really didn't expect.

Please pardon my using the dress form rather than a proper showoff: my good camera with remote clicking has zero battery these days, so it was this or nothing:
Anyhow, I mostly used Greg's pattern, but used a much narrower piece of linen for the binding. The neck is more open - closer to a gown neckline - but I kept the decorative "keyhole" slit in front.
The biggest difference though is that mine is open on the sides, and closes with points. This lets me open it up a bit for air, and (vanity) lets me cinch it down a bit at the waist for a more defined shape.

I've got a "civilian" surcote waiting in the wings to go over a gown. It has a similar cut as this one, but without the center slit for the legs.