Show me your Glengarry bonnets - shape vs fit vs finish!

[usonian]

One of the many irons I have in the fire is a partially finished knitting pattern I came up with for a glengarry bonnet. My first attempt was OK as far as it went, but not having a more typical/commercial example I was unsure about the shape and fit of my design. (#1 was definitely a bit small...)


Snowstorm Glengarry - 7 by Usonian, on Flickr

So, I finally purchased a mass-manufactured glengarry in my hat size so that I could compare its shape and fit to my own pattern. I now find myself wondering about what kinds of variation there are out there; my new glengarry has very stiff sides (it feels like they're lined with a dense, 1/4" thick foam) and sits on my head with a rather exaggerated "ship's prow" shape:



I've seen this look before, but there are also plenty of glengarry photos out there where they don't have that forward jut. I'm curious as to how much of that is the shape of a given hat, the stiffness of its sides, and the way it happens to fit an individual head. If you have a photo of yourself wearing a glengarry, I'd be much obliged if you could post it and comment on its stiffness and fit! I'm going to revamp my pattern and make another test soon.

Thanks!

[tulloch]

That looks like the ones I have seen. Pretty ordinary fit.

[OC Richard]

All of the Glengarries I've ever owned, back to the first one I bought around 1975, have been made by Robert Mackie. I believe they may also furnish them to the MOD, so they might be thought of as the "standard" or "classic" design.

http://www.robertmackie.com/products...ms/Default.asp

Yes they start out rather stiff but with repeated wearing in the rain they eventually shape themselves to your head. In any pipe band you'll see a range of Glengarries from new stiff ones to ancient beat-up ones.

I have noticed Glengarries made by random unknown firms (probably in Pakistan) sometimes deviate a bit from the "classic" shape. Even with nice Scottish-made ones they vary a bit in how strong the curve at the top of the front is.

Early Glengarries from the c1840 period don't curve down as much in the front, so that they're higher in front than modern ones. Oftentimes early Glengarries are taller overall too.

That one you made is awesome! I think it looks much better than the standard ones.

About colours: the traditional Glengarries worn in the Army since the 1840s are always an extremely dark blue, easy to mistake for black in poor light. All had scarlet touries.

The dicing varied by regiment:

Black Watch, Cameron Highlanders: no dicing (though the feather bonnets of these regiments bore red/white/blue dicing)
Gordon Highlanders, Seaforth Highlanders: red/white/green dicing
Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders: red/white dicing
pipers of all regiments: no dicing (though their feather bonnets, if worn, had dicing)

Standard civilian Glengarries have either no dicing or red/white/black dicing.

Nowadays civilian Glens are made in the traditional extremely dark blue, and in black. The black ones are usually offered with either scarlet touries or black touries. This leads to problems in civilian pipe bands: nearly every civilian pipe band on earth has a mix of blue and black Glens, and Glens with red and black touries. Having been in pipe bands since the 1970s, I've noticed that that's the most difficult thing to get uniform. In bands with black Glens there's always that ONE GUY with a blue one!

Anyhow here are some photos showing the variation in shape that used to exist









The earliest clear depictions of the Glengarry are civilian, here in 1822



and this one also predates the Glengarry's adoption by the Army



Here's a typical MOD one, which has lost its stiffness due to long wear



Here's the Glengarries worn nowadays in the Army

[Nathan]

Some of OC Richard's pics show how early Glengarrys appear to be small balmorals formed differently with the centre dimpled in rather than the structured, hard sided Glengarry bonnet of today.

[OC Richard]

Some of OC Richard's pics show how early Glengarrys appear to be small balmorals formed differently with the centre dimpled in rather than the structured, hard sided Glengarry bonnet of today.

That brings up a good point, that a Glengarry is in essence a Balmoral that's been "blocked" to a different shape.

Much as all the Cowboy hat variants including the Montana Peak/Smokey the Bear/RCMP shape start out as the same generic hat and are "blocked" to their various shapes.

[thescot]

since you asked--my personal favorite:



And then theres:



I rarely wear a glengarry, but my wife prefers them to balmorals. (What does she know?) And they really are fairly handy for very casual wear.