Hood flop

[Orphena]

Hello you lovely talented people!

We are prepping for a trip in the fall to the PA faire, and with the fall weather being unpredictable, I am planning on bringing our wool cloaks. One issue I always seem to have is that when wearing a hood, it flops all over the face, making it difficult to see, and thereby walk. Depending on whether I am wearing a hat or not, an illjudged tilt of my head can plunge me into sudden darkness, so I am looking for a solution - preferably one that does NOT involve taking the hood off the cloak.

I have thought about adding wire into the edge, but worry that if I do something like that, the hood will not lay nicely when it is down.

Any ideas / solutions?

[gem]

I've made a fair number of things with hoods, and it's a tricky shape to get right--it needs to be large enough to look nice and full while covering the head without tugging on the throat or hair... but not so large or full that it engulfs you. I'm afraid you've already figured out the real solution: new hoods.

But! Since you've asked for ideas... maybe a heavy band of trimwork around the edge would help give it some stabilization (OR it might make it even heavier and prone to falling forward). Is there any chance of folding back the front edge and sewing it down, thereby making the whole hood that much shallower? Or, if you don't want to sew the edge back permanently, maybe tacking it back on each side with a decorative brooch? I'd experiment with the placement of the brooch--if you put it far enough back, it might act as an anchor to the hood to help keep it from drooping forward. Or... this might be even better--try putting the hood up, then grab the front with both hands (like you're about to lower the hood) and tug straight downward, toward your shoulders. Pin out the excess with the brooches, but with the brooches at the shoulder/neckline (near the collarbone). That should keep the hood full enough to raise/lower, but not so full it falls forward all the time. (Did that make any sense? It's perfectly clear in my head, but it doesn't *look* clear the way I wrote it!)

Do they come to points in back, like this? Perhaps you could hang a nice weighty tassel from the point to help counterbalance the weight of the front of the hood? (My first thought was to sew something heavy into the back, but a tassel seems less... weird.)

Another idea I had was to put some sort of loop or clip on the inside of the hood, to fasten it to your headwear somehow--but that would limit your ability to raise/lower the hoods at will.

All righty--enough brainstorming from me; perhaps someone who's actually solved this dilemma will chime in!

[raevyncait]

actually, I have a Moresca Guardian, which I use as my winter coat (since here in North Central TX we get only a few weeks of real winter), and I've decided that before winter gets here, I'm going to stitch the front of the hood back some, but I am also going to add a frog closure under my chin, because my problem is that when the wind blows, it blows the whole hood back off my head, having it fastened under my chin should eliminate that problem.  I'm actually also going to use the same frog closures down the front, since the only closure on it is the tie at the neck.

[Orphena]

Thanks for the ideas, ladies!

gem - I used this pattern : http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/patterns/sewingpatterns.pl?patternid=1389

I did view D, which is essentially the white one in the picture. It is about calf length - I have discovered that full length cloaks are heavier, and tend to grab more mud than I need to deal with. It is made from coat wool, and lined. If I were to make another cloak (Or add to this one), I think I would look into an extra wind baffle for the front - we had several windy rainy days to contend with, and as all our faires are open fields without much protection, it was a battle to keep dry. Every gust of wind flung the cloak open. I may go back and add additional clasps as well to prevent this. Thankfully the worst day was Medieval day, and we were tailors, so I used straight pins to close the front of the cloak. 

I have already sewn a few glass beads onto the hood, which does help with the hood falling nicely when it is down. It adds a nice detail, without being huge. I like the idea of using pins or brooches (if I can find them!) to pin the excess down - I think I understand what you are suggesting.

Perhaps a small rind or hook eye will provide a place to anchor a bobby pin. This will work for me, at least. M'lord is out of luck on that one as he is quite bald! 

Perhaps my next cloak needs to be more 18th century in style, and include a calash, complete with ribbon!

[gem]

Perhaps a small rind or hook eye will provide a place to anchor a bobby pin. This will work for me, at least. M'lord is out of luck on that one as he is quite bald!

Oh, then that's EASY! Double-sided tape.   

Perhaps my next cloak needs to be more 18th century in style, and include a calash, complete with ribbon!

Perhaps your next cloak should be a coat!

[Orphena]

Love the coat, Gem! Only issue I have would be that my sleeves don't make it easy to put another layer on. I attach my sleeves with homemade aiglets, and fussing with a coat is going to pop more than I have spares for!

Besides.... no hood on that coat! But it is very pretty!