Don’t let the title of this post fool you into thinking that the hat in question is dead. It is very much alive and well (unless you count Faire-sweat). The point is how it came to be.
I’ve long enjoyed being a peasant at the Renaissance Faire. Who doesn’t love the irreverent attitude, the ability to wipe your dirty fingers on your clothes (you quickly get over the fact that you are ruining the costume you labored over – those are marks of good times had, not stains!) and the occasional peasant pile? Those noble looking tall hats have long intimidated and intrigued me. As my guild slowly moves up in standing from lowly peasant to something like lower middle class, we’ve all started looking at things that actual Renaissance Sumptuary Laws and social standing would have prevented real peasants from having.
Sheriff in an Elizabethan Tall Hat
A tall hat meant status. It’s no Pope’s hat, mind you, but the only tall hat a peasant would have gotten their hands on would have been tattered and almost unrecognizable as headwear. Our new Lord Mayor and Sheriff both needed a tall hat.
As with any other costume piece, there is a lot of variation on the theme when it comes to the exact size and shape. Look here, here, and particularly at period portraiture. Our two men wanted hats that weren’t too tall and brims that were big enough to shade their eyes. Unlike Elizabethan England climate, the CA Ren Faire is full sun and 95+ degrees 95% of the time. There were particularly fond of a leather version we had seen, but I was hoping to give them something cooler and opted for the linen of their doublets.
5 paper mock-ups later I had a good shape that worked on both men. (more…)
A. came up with the original concept drawing. In it she decided that a pleated yoke should be added to define the chest area. It looked great. The implementation was a bit of a challenge. It required a lot of time, a ruler, chalk, an iron and many,many pins. Due to some related issues I decided to hand stitch the pleats down with a simple whip stitch. After som discussion we decided that would be the side we would use on the outside. After the stitching was completes I cut out the yoke pieces to attach to the torso pieces.
By the Bodkin 