Wool Blanket Anorak Extravaganza

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Apr 21, 2010
9
2
MN
Sources, more or less in order:Materials and approximate prices:
  • $60 = 4 Italian military blankets (Sportsman's Guide)
  • $16 = 8 sq ft 4 oz elkskin split (ebay)
  • $10 = outdoor thread, bootlaces for use with toggles
  • $3? = two used queen-sized sheets (flower pattern :cool:)


Started off nice and easy with an outer layer based on Rick Marchand's anorak pattern (not really worth a picture, basically the same as his). I'm not exactly delighted with the result, but this step was time nevertheless well-spent in getting to know the wool and sewing machine. The machine's presser foot, in particular (old machine made for sewing tablecloths and bedsheets), wouldn't give me anything more than three layers of wool :rolleyes:.


Here's exercise #2, slightly more complicated, a hood design in the style of an old cotton/wool reversible anorak I saw online (pictures link to flickr; there are more pictures there):

The two main seams are top-stitched by hand; all others are machine-sewn. (The extra seams come from fitting my design onto the scraps leftover from the Rick anorak.) I like this hood, if only because I made the design. It allows the head to turn nicely without pulling, and in general fits quite well. The only thing is that it doesn't lay nicely when it's off - kind of just retains its shape and sits awkwardly right behind the head (if it were to be attached to a jacket).


Exercise #3 is edispilf's anorak pattern:

This is a great pattern and tutorial from edispilf. Top-stitching makes all the difference, especially when you can do it on the machine. I extended the arms 3" and the body 2", and made the taller collar as found on edispilf's later models. I did sort of a double-top-stitch on the collar, so the wool collar is top-stitched on the outside, and the light fleece lining - cut from an old hat - is top-stitched on the inside (however, these were hand-sewn simultaneously). The result is that the seam and all related edges are hidden upward inside the collar, between the wool and fleece.


I underestimated the strength of leather and am consequently stuck with this leather trimming thing. Perhaps 4 oz (thickness of a US quarter) wasn't necessary. My leather needle will only go through if I push it through on a board :D. From comments on this post at BushcraftUSA I'm thinking either heavier glovers' needles or a sewing awl. Comments/other ideas?


Better pictures &c. to come as this develops,
Eric Hammer
 

Wayland

Hárbarðr
What an entry.
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Welcome to the forum.
 
Apr 21, 2010
9
2
MN
Okay, so I've tried a few things to get holes in this 4 oz elk skin. First I bought a cheap leather needle, which broke immediately. Number 18 sewing machine leather needles didn't break, but couldn't make it through the material. I then ordered some Tandy number 8 and 5 sewing awl replacement needles (figured if they didn't work I could still use them in the future - got some braintanning in mind). These are definitely the best quality of everything so far, but I think their bigness worked against them here, and they really couldn't make it through either, at least not in a way that I would be able to repeat a few hundred times.

So I went with nails. :D For what it's worth, I took some with angled points, so as to hopefully mimic the qualities of glovers needles, then nailed the leather folded over so the holes lined up:



Then I saddle-stitched the leather on through the pre-punched holes, except for four-layer (overlap) areas, where I punched holes as I went. You can see the leather on the sides held the holes better, but the piece around the top of the neck was fuzzier (think "worn workglove") and that made it a real pain to find the holes.



In the meantime, I've also varnished my wooden toggles, which managed to make them unreasonably shiny. So I got out the spike from last year and made two antler toggles à la Pake. Here is the tentatively finished neck area with one of two toggles attached:



As you can see, it isn't closed very tightly, being the toggle is so close to the edge. I'm thinking about adding another piece of leather to move the toggle out further, so it closes the neck all the way. The second toggle will go above the first, to close the collar.

And speaking of Pake, expect a cotton anorak post in the next week or two.
 
Apr 21, 2010
9
2
MN
Just a final update here - added another piece of leather as planned, to move the toggle away from the edge. And I decided to leave the bottom as is, seeing as I managed to leave the original blanket edge there (with the original blanket stitching). So I figure 'don't fix what ain't broken.'







 

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