Diy Blackrock down hat attempt.

[turnerminator]

As soon as I clamped eyes on Shug's down beanie, It was hat love at first sight.

I went to order one from Blackrockgear.com last week and they were sold out.

This meant only one thing- A diy attempt (struggle) was Imminent.

After trying to work out how it was put together, it seemed sensible to make 3 down filled pockets and join them together before sewing through the baffle lines to finish.
The first one I made was far too small, and the sewing through didn't go too well, so I butchered it for its downy plumage and started again.

During attempt 2, It came to my mind that sewing through may not be needed, the down pockets are small enough to keep the down in place and it would save a bit of elbow grease. Could this be a good compromise?

I tested it last night in the rain for an hour and it stayed bone dry and felt toasty warm. The down didn't get touched by the rain.
I'm not happy with it yet-it needs a sweatband to stop the noise of the material on my ears and keep it on in wind and a bit of minor tweaking to the shape. It weighs 28g, squashes to an egg size, took 18g of 850 down, made from olive pertex. I reckon it should be good down to about -5 to -10 oC/ 20s

This is my progress so far.

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
The down filled pockets; [IMG][/IMG]
The muslin blank for the shape-[IMG][/IMG]

[Pithy]

That looks great! Is that sil you're using? When you get it all figured out and you're happy with it please post a how-to. I would love to attempt a project like this.

[dmrichm]

Great lookin hat! I bet it will keep you nice and warm! The first down hat I made is very similar to this one.... but was too small for me, so my fiancee got a hat. The second one I made had all the smaller baffles and is still nice and warm. (unfortunately, I cannot make a direct comparison between the two) oh well... more reasons to make more sample hats.

Great work!!

[sclittlefield]

Pretty sweet! And here's a second request for a DIY How-To when you've gotten it all together! Nice looking hat.

[turnerminator]

Thanks for the comment all, glad you liked it.
I'll 'how to' this soon.

[Dutch]

Beleive me when I laid eyes on my blackrock hat I thought "I can make this". You followed through though. Looks great. Call it a biegerock. I bet the sizing is really the tough part.

[turnerminator]

Beleive me when I laid eyes on my blackrock hat I thought "I can make this". You followed through though. Looks great. Call it a biegerock. I bet the sizing is really the tough part.

Thanks Dutch.
As is usual with hats, this one has had me scratching my head.
The "Beigerock" it is, until the sage and grey pertex turn up.
Then I can do a "Sagerock, Beigerock and Greyrock".

I'd like to do one with box baffles when I get the shape sorted.

[Shug]

That is terrific ye of the warm noggin.........
Shug

[MarshLaw303]

i can't believe the box baffling is needed for such a small area. i like the idea of a 2.5oz XP puffy hat like this as there is no worries of insulation shift and it should weigh in less than down in those quantities but there is something cool about down and even when synthetic makes more sense i tend to favor the good old goose.

-Tim

[Running Feather]

I started down (no pun intended) this road about 8 weeks ago. I made a prototype, which I may bequeath to Shug (pics to come), using poly batting to test size and shape. I then made some adjustments and made one with Prima-Loft. Came out nice...kinda (more pics). I'm still snowed in here so I may attempt the down version today. All pics will be in final cut.

There are a few HF members that saw the prototypes at a recent hang in PNF.