Pre 1900 Tam's

[super8mm]

What would happen to the shape of a tam if it was worn daily where one would sweat in it or be in rain and snow?

[Pleater]

What would happen to the shape of a tam if it was worn daily where one would sweat in it or be in rain and snow?

Wool is malleable - the commercially made ones are shaped like a goldfish bowl when first made, usually in white wool. They are fixed to a wire frame the shape and size of the finished cap and felted quite fiercely, dyed to the desired colour and then spun, rinsed and the headband added. They usually become perfectly flat but over time they tend to become domed.

I make mine in crochet as they are individual items, narrowing them down to the right sort of size. I sometimes make a headband with a cord threaded through it so it can be adjusted to fit, and adjusted through hair growth and cuts, head shaves - even chemotherapy.
They tend to round out over time, particularly if worn in the rain, but if I see that one is particularly floppy or stiff as I start to make the disc I undo it and use a different size of hook or change the yarn to get just the right amount of rigidity.

Ones which I wore when sailing had a loop worked into the headband and were held on a lanyard, so I didn't lose them into the oggin. I had a bright red one which had four loops which I wore when the weather was particularly bad. There was a black H as a reinforcement linking the loops. When I was asked why I used to reply 'helicopters'.

Anne the Pleater

[Troglodyte]

What would happen to the shape of a tam if it was worn daily where one would sweat in it or be in rain and snow?

Edmund Burt answers this in one of his 'Letters' from Scotland in the 1720s.

He says that no effort is made to get out from the weather, even though it may be only a couple of paces to get under cover, and so the bonnet and plaid are continually wet.

He describes how, once the bonnet is too water-logged for the wearer's comfort, it is taken off, wrung out like a dish-cloth, and placed back on the head.

Speaking from experience, I can say that the bonnet will sustain several hours' drizzle without letting water through - which is also true of a quality tweed jacket, and neither show much in the way of effect once dry again. I say 'much' as one result of spending time jacketed and bonneted in the rain, is that the fit tends to get better. The fibres go through a natural form-fitting process.

So don't wory about the weather, in other words.

But it's a good idea to let the garments dry throughly before putting them back into the wardrobe.

[Pleater]

Having been out in torrential rain for extended periods just a couple of times, I can vouch for wool being the best fibre to be wearing as it is warm even if wet through. The fibres swell and keep out the wind better, the water seeps through but it becomes warm.
Those with me who were wearing jeans were in grave danger of hypothermia, a couple became confused and wanted to stop but cotton is cold when wet and they would probably have died if they'd been allowed to take shelter without there being any way to get warm.

Anne the Pleater

[Tobus]

Wool is malleable - the commercially made ones are shaped like a goldfish bowl when first made, usually in white wool. They are fixed to a wire frame the shape and size of the finished cap and felted quite fiercely, dyed to the desired colour and then spun, rinsed and the headband added. They usually become perfectly flat but over time they tend to become domed.

I recently saw some photos posted by an online acquaintence who had visited House of Tartan. That company had purchased the tooling and inventory from Rob't Mackie, with the intent to resume making bonnets the same as Mackie had.

It appears that they use wooden moulds to stretch the bonnets to shape (presumably during, or at the tail end of, the felting process). Here is a bonnet in a box, which appears to still be on the mould. And another photo of various moulds on a workbench - with the 2nd from left looking like possibly a Balmoral type.



(Glengarries appear to be made on perfectly round moulds shaped like a biscuit tin.)