Need Wheel cap pattern.

[Nuttman]

Pards,

I posted similar message in Civilian thread also. I am looking for anyone who may have or know where I can get a pattern for a Wheel style forage cap or a Mechanics cap. I need one to make a cap for my 12 year old Grandson, who is starting his first full year of re-enacting. That is the style hat he wants, so I am trying to find a pattern for him. Many thanks.
Gene

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

http://www.simplicity.com/index.cfm?cat=4&type=19&sec=37&startrow=1. Scroll down to the bottom left and click on the picture of the man with the bad fake beard. This pattern contains directions for the wheel hat (mechanic's cap). I've used this pattern before , and you'll have to do just a little tweaking to get a better period appearance, including adding a stiffener like varnished or painted cardboard around the lower band, and adding hand sewn finishing instead of the machined directions, but aside from that its a decent commercial pattern. You can also find them available at most JoAnn Fabrics and some Wal Marts that carry fabric.

[ziggy2000]

Would this pattern, or a minor variation, work for a Naval Officer's hat, US or CS? The Navy Officer hats seem to be few and far between, and VERY pricey... just wondering if this would be a passable sub. Or would it work for a Mississippi Marine Brigade hat??

Thanks!

Marty

[FloridaConfederate]

This lad has put instructions here and has done a fine, fine job not only on the hat, but on his site.

I think he posts here...nice work dude. Keep up the leadership.


http://theyoungcampaigner.typepad.com/the_young_campaigner/projects/index.html

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Would this pattern, or a minor variation, work for a Naval Officer's hat, US or CS? The Navy Officer hats seem to be few and far between, and VERY pricey... just wondering if this would be a passable sub. Or would it work for a Mississippi Marine Brigade hat??

Thanks!

Marty
With alot of variations, the pattern would work for a naval officers cap, but I would caution that it isn't that easy, so make a couple of practice caps out of cheap material before you attempt to make one from expensive wool. You would have to tweak the heighth of the side, as well as change the top (crown) piece to be more oval rather than round, as well as change the sizes of the undercrown quarters. This pattern would be easier to make the enlisted naval caps much easier. There is a reason that naval officer caps are so expensive- to make a good one takes an inordinate amount of handwork, utilizes costly material for a correct one, and they aren't in as much demand as say a kepi or forage cap.

[roy34108]

Hi Gene,

I happen to have a mechanics cap that my son (16 years old tomorrow) grew out of. It's not the greatest in the world, but not bad either. It's made of grey jean wool, has a check cotton liner, and a leather sweat band. My only real gripe is that the visor is made of the same fabric as the body of the hat; but it wouldn't be hard to change it to a leather visor, if one felt so inclined (which I never did). Guessing, I would say it's about a 7 to a 7 1/8. If you're interested, I could measure it, and could email you pics (my email address is roy34108@aol.com). You could have it for $15 plus actual shipping cost.

Roy Pappalardo

[jademonkey]

This lad has put instructions here and has done a fine, fine job not only on the hat, but on his site.

I think he posts here...nice work dude. Keep up the leadership.


http://theyoungcampaigner.typepad.com/the_young_campaigner/projects/index.html

Not to highjack the thread - Christopher is right, this guy did a great job on his site. Bully for you. -Garrett

[Fatback and Beans]

A good period source would be " 'The Workwoman's Guide', by A Lady" (c. 1838-40) You could probably find a reprint with a little searching online, or Google Books has a digital copy online which can be downloaded as a .pdf file (it appears some pages are missing from the preview though, don't know if there are pages missing from the .pdf file).

Some examples of the caps you're speaking of can be found illustrated in Plate #19 toward the back of the book (the plates start after pg. 300), with the general construction directions located in the text of the book, approx. pg. 153-158.

Good luck to you.