Saturday 5 February 2011

General Carleton of Whitby Hat

Every now and then I get a chance to make a historic hat that is glorious in its slight daftness. The cap from the ''General Carleton of Whitby' (sunk 1785) is just such a hat, its nigh on as close as you can get to a bobble hat in re-enactment :D

The original is very faded, so the use of the madder stripe is my interpretation- it may have been another colour, but I'm generally pleased with the overall effect. Three shades of undyed wool and some madder dyed, very very lightly fulled, just enough to allow the thrums to settle into the form seen in the original, without any fulling at all they look too fluffy and odd. Based on examination of photos, sadly I didnt get a chance to see the original whilst it was in Whitby last year.

I did have a quick look at the pattern offered in 'the Yorkshire Mary Rose' by Eleanor Clapp when I was first planning this hat a few months back, but a few details in her version seemed at odds with what I felt I was observing in the photographs, so I worked this one based on stitch numbers and structures I could count on the various published images of the hat. I'm not for one moment saying her pattern is necessarily off, just that without the benefit of seeing the original hat in the flesh I chose to work with what I could explain with the information available to me. On the whole I'm very happy with this as a first work up of the hat and hope very much to have a chance to develop my interpretation as I come across more details of this hugely entertaining hat.

Original hat here: http://freespace.virgin.net/suesteph.ba ... %20hat.jpg
My version here:

1 comment:

Freyalyn said...

I did see the hat in Whitby, and honestly, you were better off with the photos. The knitted stuff (just one case right at the top of the (admittedly fascinating) museum) wasn't really close enough to the front of the case to examine closely, and of course the light wasn't good. I rather fancy making one 'based' on the pattern in the book about the wreck.