Any tips for making my trekking capote? length etc? I'm just about ready to start chopping this blanket up.

Spitfire,

I like a capote that comes to about mid thigh for trecking. Take the extra blanket and fashion it as a cape. If possible, give yourself as much overlap in the middle as possible. This gives you some extra warmth. When it is mild or your on the move pull it back/open it up to make it cooler. The cape should be detachable for the same reasons. it will also come in handy around camp, hot pad for kettles, folded up as a pillow etc. The arms should go just a little past your finger tips. Just fold them back to make a cuff, rolled out for impromptu mittens, hot billy and frypan hot pads etc. The hood should have a tie on the back to pull around your neck and tye off the neck opening in cold weather/sleeping. Thus keeping it in place while sleeping. Your head beeing warm will help you stay asleep longer instead of waking up as much wondering why your so cold at 2:00 am. I guess just try to get multiple use out of every garment and it will lend it to a natural use piece of kit that has a lot of practical applications.

regards, stump.

Hey spitfire, I am not sure how PC or not you want to go or what time period you want to do? But before you cut up that blanket take some time and read this article on Coats done by the Manuel Lisa Party of the AMM. There is a lot of great info on capote's drawings and the different styles there were.
http://www.manuellisaparty.com/articles/pfd's/Coats1.pdf

Also check out Rex Normans article on Capote's in the Jan/Feb 2004 Muzzleloader mag.

I am rethinking mine and have one in the works.

Thanks for the responses fellas, I did dig into the capote writeups by the AMM, however I don't have the Jan/Feb 2004 mag. I cut my blanket up (4pt emerald green HB) It's almost finished, I made it fall to about mid thigh in the old tailor pattern which seems the most authentic. I couldn't help myself though and I put a lil buckskin fringe on the shoulders but I read a journal account by...Wyeth? That spoke of the fringe attatched in 8-9" long "bunches" even on the blanket coats, so that seems to be authentic as well. I'll try to get some pics on here as soon as I can figure out how to shrink them since past attempts have failed. So far I only have to put the hood, collar, and pocket flaps on and she's finished, this one will surely shine.

Spitfire,

Great! sure sounds like your having fun.

BuffflerRub,

thanks for the link. Got me thinking about doing up a keyhole pattern for fancy doins. Yearly meeting or opening ceremonies at some of the big doins.

Regards, stump

Stump,

Why just for fancy doins? Why not all the time?

Here's mine, made from a green Whitney blanket, note the shoulder fringe. Ole Bear Claw liked it.. ...

Hey Buffalorub,

Aww, I don't know, guess I'm still attached to my thin worn out horse blanket that my wife made for me so many years ago (about 22 years ago and my first proper piece of kit). It was made out of an old horse cooler when she was training saddlebreds. Sometimes a fella has just got to hold back something nice for special occasions. The usual tramping around in the sticks, cricks, bugs and mud. Well, that's what the old horse blanket is for. Wouldn't feel natural in anything else I guess.

Regards, stump.

A fortune is there to be made.
I used to wear my Witney Horse Blanket Capote
around Germany because it was the warmest coat
I owned. My kids skied all over Bravaria and
Austria. When I went to pick them up I would
walk the streets sightseeing and the Europeans
went nuts. They thought that capote was the coolest coat they had ever seen. I was offered
$300 for it. If a guy opened an apres ski
clothing shop at a popular ski resort and had a
rack of capotes, he'd sell out daily.