Viking Archery Hood

Morgan wanted a hood for his archery and for exploring on Dartmoor, so I made this one, based on the Viking Skjoldehamn pattern.

The Vikings knew what they were doing with hood design - his is such a simple and brilliant bit of kit. The felted outside is very water-resistant, and the linen lining is cosy. Arms are free for archery, climbing, making fires and throwing axes. The hood is really deep, with three options; fully open to keep you very dry (but with not much vision), folded back if you need to see out, or fully down in good weather.

This was my first attempt at making felt, using the fleece from our neighbours alpacas. After washing and picking the fleece I wrapped it in bubble wrap, added soap and hot water, and spent a good hour rolling and pounding it. There were quite a few thin patches, but I patched them up by needle-felting in some more fleece - and I really wanted to have a rough, ‘hand made’ look.

The lining is from a pair of old linen curtains, and it’s all hand stitched in big visible blanket stitch using embroidery floss.

The pattern itself is really simple - it’s one rectangle with two squares for the front and back gores. My version has more seams in it, just because the size of the felt sheets I made were limited by my bubble-wrap, and I had to sew several together. The outer and inner hoods are made identically, and then just sewn together around the face opening and bottom edge.