Inverness Cape?

[Troglodyte]

Thanks SO much for all those details. Previously, I've made email contact with Mr. Antony (who make Band Capes but also tweed Inverness Capes, and with Kinloch Anderson, who sell goods to Royalty and whose prices confirm that). Neither seemed eager to create a cape in very heavyweight cloth, although the mill that K-A uses (in the Scottish Borders, I think, in or close to Selkirk) does weave some as heavy as 700 gms. My guess is that the shops that DO sell Capes are not eager to be wrestling with such heavy cloth. I've not found any source for quilted lining capes.

An American business wear overcoat (typically worn over a business suit) is made from wool woven into fabric more like a blanket than the tight weave in a PC or tweed jacket, or a kilt, for that matter. Perhaps the raison d'être for the garment in Scotland was the intemperate rainy weather rather than the bitter cold we often have in Montana, USA. Just last week we had temperatures of -20°F and snowfall of almost 2 meters, but today we'll have a clouds but high temperatures approaching 50°F! (and such dramatic shifts in temperature can occur in much shorter intervals, too.

Might you have any leads regarding someone who would/could make a lined heavyweight cape as you've described it?

By the way, I looked up Fettercairn and was reminded just how large a county Scotland actually is. Most of the web "hits" mention the distillery, which does tours. We TRIED to tour Glennlivet when last we were in Scotland, but were cursed by the tiny paved sheep paths we were forced to navigate in the huge SUV that the car hire company foisted on us in Edinburgh. We arrived an hour late (BEAUTIFUL countryside), missed our pre-paid tour entirely, but were able to enjoy a tasting (as the designated SUV pilot I saved my tiny bottles for another day).

An Invernes cape is really intended to be a loose covering, rather than a warm garment - but being worn over a usually thick tweed jacket and waistcoat, the combined insulatling effect is normally enough for the frequently cold and damp conditions here in Scotland.

It has been said that Scottish weather (especially in the Highlands in winter) is more Arctic than continental in terms of weather conditions, and, although temperatures regularly go below -10C it is not for long periods of time. The weather forecast often gives out 'wintery showers' which is understood to be blustery, squally conditions with rain and sleet - which takes a heavy toll at lambing time. It is seldom still and intensely cold.

The cape, particularly if worn over a kilt outfit, serves well in these conditions if the cloth used is thick and heavy enough - a piper's rain-cape is necesarily lightweight and provides excellent summer-time wet-weather protection but not warmth apart from the outer-shell barrier sort you would get with, say, a cagoule.

Most kilted occasions are indoor events, and are reached by scampering from a car to the entrance - not enough to need much more than a simple draped covering - which is probably why the likes of KA and other cape-makers offer them in lightweight cloths. My own cape, which I have had for many years, was commissioned from Haggarts of Aberfeldy, and is made from one of their heavy tweeds, which are now continued by Glenlyon mill -https://www.glenlyontweedmill.com/Tweed/Tweed_775_grams.html

Superb in every way, I would say it is heavy enough to be well-behaved in our weather, and has nothing in the way of a warm lining apart from the usual satin. In very cold, still conditions, I find the cape is enough to stay warm and comforable without worry, and so would probably suit your climate - especially if you had the all-round mantle version that provides the extra layer across the back and shoulders.

Cape-makers will urge the customer to use one of their available cloths for their own convenience, rather than the customer's, and frequently assume the customer has little idea of what he really wants or needs. Additionally, clothing made during the past 40 years or so has become increasingly lightweight, and what is now considered heavyweight was once an all-purpose medium-weight cloth. Consequently, tailors balk at the idea of working with anything of 16oz or more.

Personally, I would reject any cape made from a cloth less than 28oz. The sporting tweeds produced by Lovat mills and the like are excellent suitings, and will last more than a lifetime, but have nothing of the weight and substance I think is required for an Inverness cape. Think of an army greatcoat over a uniform and you get the idea.

Vintage capes occasionally come up for sale, which have a wool lining fused to the outer - sometimes in a check or tartan pattern - that double the thickness and winter-wear properties of the cape. Finding a maker to do this now is all but impossible, but finding a quilted jerkin of the sort sometimes sold as an accessory for an overcoat as a body-warmer liner might be a solution for you.

The amount of cloth needed for a cape is going to be the bulk of the cost, as they are fairly quick and easy to make up - something like six yards of double-width cloth is required. It is most likely that you will only ever buy one cape, so choosing wisely is essential.

These pictures show my Haggarts' cloth cape.



So you have tracked me to Fettercairn..? I stay a couple of miles outside the village, just where the flat arable gives way to the sloping moors, and my home is part of all that remains of ancient Kincardine that gives the name to the county. Nothing remains of the town except the name and the ruined castle (which Edward I used as a base and where John Baliol is said to have formally assigned Scotland to England) - which was used as a quarry to build the 'new' village of Fettercairn. Old Kincardin's mediaeval market cross, complete with its official 'ell' measure, has been in Fettercairn square since being saved.

A stone's throw from my back door is a Pictish hill-fort known to have been used by the real King Macbeth, and is reputed to be where he put to death King Duncan. Curiously, it is a serene and tranquil site, that gives visitors a sense of peace and harmony with the natural world. You feel compelled to linger, and the site is a favourite refuge for both fur and feather wildlife.

Fettercairn distillery is part of the White and Mackay empire, and is unique for two reasons - being the oldest legal distillery, and having a curious cooling system in the form of a ring collar high on the neck of the stills that is said to give the spirit its light, floral character. Try as I might, I cannot get a taste for their product, and find the next nearest distillers, Glencadam, much more to my liking. Fettercairn uses their own water supply, while Glencadam has theirs piped from the high glens some miles away. The handful of other distilleries in the area have gone out of business in the past 50 years or so, and are now the sites of supermarkets or housing estates.

Good luck with the cape-hunting!