Tam Pattern v 2.0


After a certain amount of trial and error, here is how I think you should construct the tam pattern. You will need ruler & compass, and graph paper is very helpful, although not necessary.

  1. Hat circumference:  Figure out the size of octagon you want the top of the tam to be.  This will be the distance between the farthest corners of the octagon (= the diameter of THE CIRCLE in which the octagon is inscribed).
  2. Now starting from the center of your graph paper, draw THIS CIRCLE, marking the center point as A.  (It will make things easier if A is the intersection of two lines on the graph paper).  (This is the inner circle in figure 1):

    Figure 1
  3. Draw four lines that intersect at A, creating eight equal angles.  I'll call these lines the SPOKES. They are the red lines in figure 1 (The first two of these lines are easy to draw: just mark the graph paper lines that pass at a right angle through A.  The other two lines can be constructed either (a) using ruler and compass to bisect the right angles you have already created; or (b) by using the graph paper to mark off a square in each quadrant, with A as the corner (same size in each), then draw a line through A and the farthest corner of the squares.
  4. Mark points where THE CIRCLE crosses the SPOKES.  These are the corners of the octagon that is the size of the tam top.  Using a ruler, draw the sides of the octagon  (BCDEFGHI in figure 1).
  5. Now, for the brim of the tam, you need to create the eight triangles pointing outside the inner octagon.  (This marks the sewing lines of the darts when you fold under the brim of the tam.) These triangles create the "sunburst" pattern in figure 1;  you will note that each of these outer triangles is the mirror image of the inner triangles that make up the inner octagon.  You can easily construct these using ruler and compass.  For example, take the inner triangle ABC in figure 1.  Insert compass point in B and compass pencil in A; make an arc in the outer region. Now put compass point into C and make another arc that crosses the first arc.  The point where the two arcs cross is the point at the top of the new triangle (BCJ in figure 1).
  6. Use a ruler to connect the outer points of these new triangles.  You will see it makes an outer octagon.  This will be the cutting line of the pattern:

    Figure 2
  7. Here's what it looks like with the pattern folded along the seam lines to form the brim:

    Figure 3

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I got started

Image
After going through enough commencement and graduation ceremonies in a rented gown, hood, and cap & hating the cheesy quality (like wearing a glorified dry cleaner bag), I started to think that I’d like to have my own, in decent quality fabric. After finding it costs circa $1000 for a decent set, I decided to investigate what it would take to make a set of my own (as a diversion as well a cost-saving/quality enhancing exercise). At first I thought about the gown, and learned a lot from a blogger who constructed her own PhD robe (not cap and hood) in 2008.   Starting with a Butterick pattern 5626 (church/choir robe) and altering it (single pleat in front instead of gathers, adding velvet collar and trim around front opening, and adjusting sleeves to puff around a shorter lining, cartridge pleating instead of gathering) as well as adding chevrons and piping per her alma mater’s design, she ended up with a very impressive reproduction of her school’s official robes, in a
Read more

Hood

Image
At first I thought I’d just purchase the hood, since I found it hard to identify the principles of construction for this dangling-strangling-slipping contraption.   But I’ve done some research and think this is a doable project.   The basic idea is that the academic hood is a stylized version of a medieval robin-hood type hood .      Here’s a sketch of the  pattern  for the ordinary hood.  The main parts are the COWL (opening around face), CAPE/GORGET (the part that sits around the neck) and LIRIPIPE (the point at the peak, back of head). In the stylized academic hood, the cowl and cape are extremely elongated, with all kinds of variation on the shape and length of the liripipe.   Via Wikipedia, I found an extremely useful chart of basic shapes of different doctoral hoods, including the pattern for each!   I determined, from looking at photos online, that the pattern than best fits my alma mater’s doctoral hood is of the Aberdeen style, and the closest matches
Read more

Robe

Image
Detail of illustration from   Gardner Cottrell Leonard, The Cap and Gown in America , (Albany, 1896), p. 15.    Since the academic gown is a version of a medieval robe, I considered starting with a costume for a medieval dress (less unisex, but who cares?). Perhaps a version of McCalls 4492 with great bell sleeves (minus the over-bodice, and without the upper arm puffing, maybe with enlarged arm holes, and cartridge pleating attaching the sleeve to bodice). Or perhaps McCalls5155 (minus the sash, and swapping in the bell sleeves from McCalls 4492).   One drawback: the pattern is for a dress not an overgarment, and so unless I made it several sizes larger, it would not be something to wear over regular clothes (as per usual academic gown).   This isn’t necessarily a problem, since it is often very hot here in mid May for commencement.   Still, in some years it is cool enough for the extra layer.   Another drawback:   there is no feature of the gown suitable for attaching and anch
Read more