• Tag Archives black watch
  • Project Redo: Black Watch Officer’s Uniform Pith Helmet

    So originally I’d made this Pith Helmet for my Black Watch outfit:

    [singlepic id=15 w=640 h=480]

    On reflection, while it was historically fairly accurate…it didn’t actually fit me well. I’d sort of given up on finding one that fit (I have a big head!) until The Artist Wife ordered one for a project for her cousin. The one she ordered fit me GREAT! So I ordered another from the same supplier…and it fit “ok.” I finally removed the inner liner and restrung the string it used to give me a better fit. I also discovered that the naugahide liner was miscut, and didn’t fit well, so I cut a slot in a couple of places in the liner to have it fit better. Much more comfortable now!

    The Artist Wife also offered to vent the Helmet, so I couldn’t turn that down. So behold, the Vented Pith Helmet! (Click the slideshow to advance)


  • Project Completed: Black Watch Pith Helmet!

    With a lot of help from The Artist Wife, the Pith Helmet for the Black Watch outfit is done!

    The tartan is stiffened with medium weight interfacing to give it some body and was then folded over into a double thickness and spray-adhesived together to make a single piece, and glued (using E6000) to the pith helmet. The red feather hackle is also glued into the puggaree (the band running around the hat) with E6000.

    Next, I trimmed the metal pins from the back of the badge and added some scrap foamboard to give enough surface area that the badge (which is convex) could be glued to the tartan fabic.

    All that nice evenness and well-trimmed edges? That’s the Artist Wife. 🙂

    Lastly, I replaced the pleather band with nice laredo strapping that ties into the inside of the helmet’s supports.

    Woohoo!