'Cheater' Tellerbarret - In Wool
So awhile back I was harassing a Landsknecht friend of mine about his uncovered head. After bearing up under the torment for a bit, he pointed out that if I didn't like him walking around without a hat on I was perfectly capable of making him a hat to fix the situation.
Well crap...
So, after some discussion and some woodcut viewings he decided upon a Tellerbarret (a 'pizza hat' to those of you not well versed in the terms of the period). One can only assume he wanted to have a wide brim to hide his precious, fair-skinned face from the sun. *chortle*
So I got to work, using these instructions which I posted YEARS ago to the das Heiligesturm Fahnlein BBS board after having been shown how to produce this version by a friend down south.
Of course, the last time I made one of these up it was in linen. And let me tell you - making it out of wool was a VERY different experience.
This is the variation of the hat with deep pleats all the way out to the brims edge. So I started out by cutting my fabric to a width that would cover both the 'top' and 'bottom' of my eventual brim, with 2.5 times the length needed to go all the way around the outside edge of the 18" macrame hoop that I was using as my brim stiffener. Given that the wool was pretty heavy by itself, I didn't bother with a buckram liner for the brim - thank god I discovered later on.
Once the brim 'rectangle' (width and length described above) was cut out, I went about creating the necessary pleats. That looked like this:
As you can see, I pinned the B-G-Bus out of this thing because the weight of the wool kept the fabric in motion more than I could manage with only two hands. Also, pinning this thing took me awhile; my first attempt ended up shortening my 'rectangle' so much that it no longer fit the brim. At least I figured that out *before* I had pressed all the pleats in!
Once the rectangle was the right length (a little too long to be honest, I fixed that when I actually applied it to the macrame hoop/brim stiffening wire) I steam ironed this sucker to within an inch of it's life.
Those pleats are going No Where!
I did this steaming directly on my cutting table, on my rotary cutting mat. I would never recommend this process to anyone as you can damage your mat this way - but keep in mind that MOVING this beast becomes a bit of a task once you get it pinned. So wherever you do decide to pin it, try to make sure you can iron it in place.
Thankfully, this was thick wool that was pleated to a depth of at least three layers. It protected my cutting mat beautifully.
I removed the outer rows of pins as I steamed in order to get the flattest press manageable on each pleat. Once I was done, the fabric took on a life of it's own:
Sort of reminds me of a sea creature with external gill fluff here. And yes, that IS Barenjager in the background, how clever of you to notice! ;)
Because even though I took this project on of my own accord my Landsknecht friend was wise enough to know that it would happen faster if there were bribes involved.*
The next step was stitching the pleats in place. The last time I made one of these hats I just ran the whole pleated sea-beast through my sewing machine and did one set of stitching all the way down the dead-center of the rectangle, securing all the pleats as I went. However, doing this left a machine-sewn line down the middle of the brim that then ended up centered on the macrame hoop brim wire. Basically in one of the most visible places I could manage.
*makes a face*
My handsewing neurosis has clearly progressed since the last time I made one of these.
Also, the man wearing this is from a group that is actually pretty sticky about their standards of costuming.
So of course I hand tacked all the pleats in place instead. Two tacks on the top of each pleat, two underneath.
Because I couldn't send him home with visible machine-sewing, could I?
*sigh*:
Next I mounted the brim rectangle on the macrame hoop stiffener. I didn't take pictures during this process, but you can probably imagine the cursing, bleeding and tears. OK, it wasn't actually that hard - but clearly I forgot to take photos. As you can guess, the process mostly involves lining up the first and last pleats in an attractive way and then tacking the edge of the brim to the hoop so that it doesn't shift.
When that was done and my sea-creature was firmly mounted to it's wire hoop, I ran a gathering stitch around the brim on both the top and bottom sides - snagging the tops of each pleat next to the head opening. Sorta like putting a running stitch through the top of a row of cartridge pleats. I used a heavy thread, because when I was don I pulled these tight before securing the ends together in a knot. Then I could futzed with the pleats until they were even and looked pretty without worrying about them shifting in ways I didn't want them to:
It was at this point I realized I was totally hosed; the bulk of all that pleated wool at the point where I had to attach the hat top to finish this project was going to be HUGE. Like, Wad-Up-A-Towel-And-Stuff-It-Into-The-Brim HUGE.
*head desk*
Thank god my husband was there to get me a drink and help me reevaluate what should happen next. After looking at the brim for a minute or two he said, "Do you need all this fabric to attach to the square topper part, or only the fabric from the bottom of the brim? Because it seems like you could cut extra fabric off the top portion of the brim and it wouldn't matter so long as you tack the square topper down so that folks don't see under it to where the edge of the hat brim stops."
I told him he was insane. I cried. I gnashed my teeth.
Then he showed me what he meant.
Did I mention that my husband is brilliant?**
So, after some re-gathering, and some hacking, We ended up with this:
What you are looking at is actually the BOTTOM brim, where the hat will attach to the square topper. The TOP of the brim (underneath in the above image) can then be cut back even farther - thus reducing the bulk in the pleating as it nears the point where the hat will actually rest on the edge.
Brim and square topper:
Mocked up together once brim has been turned over:
The final hat was lined in yellow silk (topper only) and given a beautiful plume of ostrich feathers and a matched set of fingerlooped braids as ties:
*Note to those interested in bribing me in future, I prefer Hendricks gin. Also, the chances of me sewing for anyone other than myself or my husband are almost non-existent. This guys bare headedness just got to me after YEARS of reenacting with him. *chuckle*
**He's also rather dashing in the unfinished chapeau... now if only that was a pancake and he was a bunny...
This project took me longer than I thought it would, but I am totally pleased with the results. I am not so sure that this is a 'cheat' really - I mean, it's a wire rimmed brim but it is totally possible that they used wire this way in the period.
While I would be cautious to take on another one of these in wool (and would probably use a lighter weight wool than the remnant of medium-coat-weight wool/cashmere that we used here) I actually prefer the final result in this fabric to the earlier linen model I made. It is no where near as floppy and I suspect that it will hold up better in the long run.