Dúnedain Hats?

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Cimrandir
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Cimrandir »

So I’ve been thinking about hats again as the weather here turns colder. I think I’m going to try for either a Birka 6-panel cap or the pillbox. Obviously for warmth purposes it should be made of wool. A couple of places I see sell them in a herringbone weave. But my question is what should the weight of the wool be? How thick should it be to keep the head warm?
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Manveruon »

Personally, if I do a sewn one (rather than a knit or nalbound one) I think I’ll be using a mid-to-heavy-weight Wool, but if I use a lighter weight material I’ll probably line it.
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Iodo »

I agree with Manveruon, I'd choose a medium to heavy wool, but probably look for something slightly boiled or very tightly woven to better keep out the wind/rain
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Elleth »

I'd also go blanket-weight, and then linen-line it I think. Amazing how much a lining goes to add shape and structure even all on it's own, let alone a stiffening layer inside.

Related - what if anything have folks done for shading their eyes from the sun?

As we're starting to lose leaves, the sun is getting a bit bothersome at times again. I can put up a hood, but that blocks out all my vision to either side. I can wrap a scarf, but that gets a bit messy and floppy.

Obviously I'd love a period-correct filson-type hat, but somehow I just can't see making that work... :P
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Manveruon
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Manveruon »

Good question!

That’s a toughie... I know I’ve seen Druin wearing a wide-brimmed felt hat with his Ranger gear, but it’s definitely not something that springs to mind when I think “Ranger.” Obviously Taurinor and Udwin have also worn similar hats with their ME impressions, but since they’re not portraying Dúnedain, I’m not sure it’s relevant.

Personally, in a modern context I’ve found that I really like my Irish flat cap, which is warm and has a nice smallish brim. It can be worn under a hood, too, and the brim helps lift the hood from my forehead slightly, which is nice. I’ve become extremely fond of the combination, but I don’t know of anything like it that really fits the “Ranger aesthetic,” other than MAAAAAAYBE a bycocket... but that’s SO medieval and “Robin-Hood-ish” to my mind that I can’t really say I see it fitting in with a Dúnedan persona. That being said, I know there are people who have rocked a bycocket with their Ranger garb, so I suppose it’s really just a personal preference thing. The only other real down-side I can see to that is that the brim on a bycocket is quite narrow, and tapers to a point, so it might not be the most effective at shading one’s eyes.
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Cimrandir »

Thank you! I hadn't even considered lining the dang thing. I just ordered the doggy bag rustic softened linen from Fabric-store which should do the trick nicely. I'll probably leave it undyed as I've heard that linen doesn't take natural dyes too well. Now to find a good wool...
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Will o’ the Wild »

What does anybody think of the beret like early style of Scots bonnet? They always struck me as kind of simple enough to be likely in a lot of times and cultures and you could pull it forward and have just enough brim to shade the eyes for archery.
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Iodo »

Will o’ the Wild wrote:What does anybody think of the beret like early style of Scots bonnet? They always struck me as kind of simple enough to be likely in a lot of times and cultures and you could pull it forward and have just enough brim to shade the eyes for archery.
Interestingly enough, I use to have one for part of a costume, I have no clue what happened to it, but I wore it to a ren fair once and a guy dressed as a 17th century highlander told me that to be properly authentic I needed to boil it and shape it to actually have a brim, apparently that was the way they were worn historically, a quick search for pictures brought up this:
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Taurinor »

I made a 6-panel hat this summer (because summer is when you make wool hats, right?), and I used a reasonably thin wool because that's what I had, but it doesn't get terribly cold where I ramble, I lined it with linen, and I plan to wear it with a hood that I can pull up for extra warmth if I need to. I think the weight of wool needed will depend mainly on your local climate, though!
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Cimrandir »

That looks great Taurinor! A couple of questions if you don't mind as I am kind of running into some problems.

In all the patterns I see online the formula goes - your head size divided by 6 + 1/2 inch. The half inch I am assuming is allowance for the seams but is it an additional half inch per piece or headsize + 1/2?
What kind of stitch did you use? I've been practicing my flat fell but I'm not sure if that's he best option
How did you finish the top where all 6 pieces came together? I don't want to leave a hole. :lol:
What did you do to decorate it? Embroidery? Perhaps I am too accustomed to the fancy historical stuff but that looks wonderful for Middle-earth. I would like to borrow Elleth's pattern for mine but I don't know how well that would work like that.

Thank you!
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Iodo »

Taurinor wrote:I made a 6-panel hat this summer (because summer is when you make wool hats, right?)
LOL :lol:

seriously though, that looks great :P
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Taurinor
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Taurinor »

Cimrandir wrote:In all the patterns I see online the formula goes - your head size divided by 6 + 1/2 inch. The half inch I am assuming is allowance for the seams but is it an additional half inch per piece or headsize + 1/2?
It should be "piece = (head size/6) + 1/2 inch", I think. You need the half inch for seam allowance for every piece; the other way would give you 1/12th of an inch of seam allowance on each piece.

Also, if I'm wrong, you can always cut some fabric off, but the other way is harder! :mrgreen: I do highly recommend making a mock-up out of scrap fabric, though - heads are weird...
Cimrandir wrote:What kind of stitch did you use? I've been practicing my flat fell but I'm not sure if that's he best option
I think if you don't plan on lining it, flat felled seams would be good, but if you use a very thick wool, they might get a bit bulky. I confess that I sewed this quickly on my machine (I only dabble in Norse because there are some nearby events I enjoy; it's not my primary period) and since it's thin wool, I just ironed the seams open to flatten them. If you plan on using thick wool and lining it, I would do something like the stitched and pinked seam finish here (probably without the pinking, and potentially with a whip stitch, if you prefer). The turned and stitched finish might work well for an unlined cap - should have a little less bulk than a flat felled seam in heavy wool.
Cimrandir wrote:How did you finish the top where all 6 pieces came together? I don't want to leave a hole. :lol:
What did you do to decorate it? Embroidery? Perhaps I am too accustomed to the fancy historical stuff but that looks wonderful for Middle-earth. I would like to borrow Elleth's pattern for mine but I don't know how well that would work like that.
I attempted a baseball-type stitch in the shape of a star to pull the top together (but it might look more like the top of a strawberry :mrgreen: ):
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The decoration around the edge of the hat and the star/strawberry top are done in linen thread. The "band" is just a herringbone stitch, which I understand to be a bit of a reenactorism when used decoratively on the exterior of Norse garments, but it's easy, looks nice, and since I went through both the wool and linen layers, it helps to hold the lining up inside the hat.
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Manveruon »

I absolutely love that hat, Taurinor! Thanks for the details about it! That all looks fantastic! I'm definitely going to try one of these myself sometime. Although I'm thinking I may get kind of creative and make it a bit longer at the bottom so I can turn it up to show off a bit of the contrasting lining when worn.

Oh, and with regard to Will o' the Wild's question, my friend Bryan did actually wear a loosely Scottish style bonnet (and even a kilt, occasionally) with his ranger gear for quite a while back in the day. It may not have any specific Middle-earth pedigree (and certainly not the kilt), but it also didn't necessarily look glaringly out of place.
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Re: Dúnedain Hats?

Post by Iodo »

Manveruon wrote: Oh, and with regard to Will o' the Wild's question, my friend Bryan did actually wear a loosely Scottish style bonnet (and even a kilt, occasionally) with his ranger gear for quite a while back in the day. It may not have any specific Middle-earth pedigree (and certainly not the kilt), but it also didn't necessarily look glaringly out of place.
That's Awesome :P

I've liked all things Scottish for ever, but made an effort to stay clear of it in middle earth stuff, but thinking about it, the great kilt is just one of many ways of wearing a blanket, and I already have lots of Scottish tweed in my kit but I'm not sure about tartan in middle-earth, there's no mention of that in the text

I'm still going to look for that hat :mrgreen:
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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