Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Here's a Little Story 'Bout A Man Named Jed

Well, the weather is back to cloudy and cool, with the threat of rain, so I pulled out an indoor activity this morning. For American history we've been reading about frontiersmen and mountain men. Kit Carson, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Jed Smith and "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick...all the the tough guys. So, I thought this would be the perfect time for making "coon tail" caps.

I splurged on these kits awhile ago from Corps of Rediscovery. They are pretty reasonably priced and I love having all the pieces I need right in the kit. The hat itself is fake fur but the tail is real racoon. That was the big draw for me. I figured that if
we were going to make a coonskin cap, there had better be some real 'coon in it!

Ben sewing up a storm.


The hat was super simple to make. Just a simple whip stitch to sew everything together. Ben did his pretty much on his own, while I worked with Will to help him pin everything in the right places and make the right cuts. Of course I made one for Charlie because I knew I couldn't get by without him having his own! The boys were really happy with the results of this project!




Ready for varmit huntin'!

With left-over scraps, Ben made a cap for Will's guinea pig Rose.

1 comment:

Barbara said...

I love the coon caps - you-all are ready for a visit to the Alamo for sure. All those buckskin men had to be handy with a needle.

Looks like you've got those varmits runnin' a-skeerd!