The Cap Faction

[dh66]

Nice one Richard. Beautiful weave to that tweed.

Keith, I'm impressed, again. Nice fabric!

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[Stuffsmith]

Yep, that's the stuff. It's been through rollers to create the effect, sadly. (Only sadly because it's the cheatin way to make moire. Nice enough stuff, but the warp/weft tension method creates a far more interesting and varied pattern, IMO. The copper rollers method repeats the same pattern over and over again, like on yours.)

Pete, you never cease to amaze me. Thanks for that info, that's fascinating. I'm just delighted to have been able to find 90 year old ribbon that looks different than most, but I get what you're saying. Makes me want to see the 'real' stuff! Do you have pictures?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Keith, not with ribbon, no. but two egregious examples of both production methods used in ties should serve to illustrate. These ties are both moire, and both date to the early-middle 1930s. The one on the right from a very high end maker (Amos Sulka) whose ties retailed at around $40 at the height of the depression; the one on the left was probably a $1 or so tie, knocked out in large numbers from low grade silk. The quality of the silk is indicated by the shattering and wear.



On the green one you can clearly see the moire effect as spots all over, all the same size pretty much, and repeating. These are seen in the solid panels and in the green/white striped panels, a clear indicator that the whole bolt has been through the pressurised/galvanic/heated rollers. The one on the right you'll note the moire pattern is very different. While they were obviously going for a specific effect - almost ripples from something being dropped into fluid in the centre of the panels - the moire is much more organic. Also note there is no hint of the moire effect in the striped panels - a clear sign that the weaver/programmed machine (?) was buggering around with tensions when the solid panels were being woven, but not when the striped multi-colour panels were being woven. The effect is generated by varying warp and weft tensions essentially randomly while weaving. Apparently the tension variation to achieve the effect is astonishingly, almost vanishingly, small. Lots of work goes into proper moire! This is what I was hoping for from your ribbon.

clickez-vous les attachementes

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I realise I've been a bit rough on the Calendered fabric. I just prefer the organic/variable effect on the yarn tension stuff. Calendering is a perfectly reasonable way to get the effect, but it is inevitably repetitious and less controllable.

 

[Pinesiw]

Heres a great video full of caps, its also my main example for my inspiration
http://youtu.be/o8O3j58KOoE

 

[Chepstow]

Dale, Che and Richard, thank you gentlemen! I am glad to have it.

Keith, wonderful Cap and splendid fabric, great job done!

Richard, that is a sharp Cap, great looking tweed too. Congrats to the new one.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Love the liner graphics. Great cap, too.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I bought a couple of 1950s French caps yesterday, which I'll be selling on. One 58cm, one 59cm. Hélice club.Hélice is "propeller". Blue-ish grey with flecked overcheck. Summer weight fabric. Lovely crown imprint.

 

[jhe888]

Oh my God, jhe - if you knew how long it takes for me to make one of these you'd crack up. Hearing that Barry and Johnny make a cap in a few hours is boggling to me. I spend that much time just swearing before I even start.

I can imagine. My wife quilts and sometimes people ask her what she would charge to make them a quilt. The short answer is; "You can't afford it."As you say, it is the amount of time it takes.

 

[Stuffsmith]

Really interesting, that moire comparison, Pete. Who knew?? I'll unroll some of the ribbon today and have a good look to spot the repeats you mention, but it sounds like you've got it right. I love the stuff anyway, especially the eggplant-colored one. Oooo.

And the French caps are really sweet, especially the labels!!

 

[boushi_mania]

So, I ended up ordering a new cap from Lawrence & Foster. It was partly because I wanted a grey cap to complement the one I had ordered from Bookster (in Porter & Harding's "Vintage Houndstooth" — hey, their website is still useful as a repository of different tweed patterns!), and partly because I suspected that L&F were the ones who made them for Bookster in the first place (via Mears, their supplier for jackets).

I ordered it in the "Garforth" style (the "standard" flat-cap style, equivalent to Bookster's "Hereford"), in their "0670" fabric (which Bookster's still-operational site suggests is Lovat Mill's "Orkney" tweed). Turnaround between my order and its arrival in Japan was about two weeks. As for the result...

The shape and build quality is pretty much dead-on to the cap I got from Bookster (which I suppose I should also photograph together with it at some point). The only perceptible difference, appearance-wise, is the lack of grommets just behind the peak, and that detail is probably easy enough for retailers to dictate to their manufacturers. The cap as a whole also feels very slightly lighter and softer, with a bit more "give" than the Bookster one, but I think this is probably due to the fabric weight: 500 grams for the L&F versus 560 for the Bookster.

As for whether Lawrence & Foster were actually the supplier for Bookster... it seems more than likely, though I suppose the easiest way to find out for sure would just be to ask them myself. lol If nothing else, the price is more reasonable than Bookster's was, although the selection of tweeds is also more limited if you can't source it yourself.

Anyhow, I suppose I'll close out this post with the obligatory headshot (what the kids have taken to calling a "selfie"). Please be kind.

 

[dh66]

Dig the colors of that. It suits you well.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[splintercellsz]

I really like the way the grey breaks the blue from the darker colors. Very sharp!

 

[Stuffsmith]

I really like the way the grey breaks the blue from the darker colors. Very sharp!

Agreed - in fact, the offset light grey to the upper left of the blue and the black on the lower right of it give the impression of the blue being a raised rib - very cool. Thanks for all the info!

 

[Stuffsmith]

Hey all, I'm going to start a new thing here - I'll post new caps that are due up on my Well-Dressed Head site here for you to have first peek at. So about 48 hours after posting them here I'll offer them 'publicly'. Hoping this is OK to do here? If anyone has an issue with that, just PM me and I'll cease and desist. I have tried for two months to get the mods to message me ad quotes for the Merchants page, to no avail. Johnny and Barry, do you pay to have your merchant presence over there?? They don't want my money, apparently.

Here's the first one on the pre-block... 1920's NOS sand-colored wool 'honeycomb.' There may be a proper name for this weave, maybe a waffle-weave? But I like Honeycomb. I resized it to a comfy 58 to a fitted 58+. There are a few spots where I assume some moths grazed long ago (see pic 4) and a little 2mm hole that I mended invisibly.

The kicker here for me is the stunning color liner! $99 + shipping sits it on yer noggin.


Postscript: How weird is this - I clicked to post this and up popped a window that there was a message in my inbox! Seems I can do one post a month for free over there...

 

[jhe888]

I like that gray with the blue windowpane. I considered that cloth when I ordered the olive one I just got.

 

[Stuffsmith]

So I keep my pools undiluted, I'll post to the Merchants page from now on regarding my caps for sale... Sorry for the last post.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I think you need to be a merchant to post over there. Classifieds might be more appropriate.

 

[Stuffsmith]

I think you need to be a merchant to post over there. Classifieds might be more appropriate.

The higher-ups informed me that I can be a merchant and post once a month there for free...

 

[Two Types]

Keith: Please make sure you keep posting pics of all the cool caps you find on this thread as reference for us. You have really helped to keep this thread very active, and to nake it an inspiration for cap lovers.