Nicholas Daley Patchwork Tam O’ Shanter

The tam o’ shanter is a Scottish bonnet named after the drunk farmer in Robert Burns’s poem of 1790, which is an unusually literary origin for a piece of headwear. It is traditionally a flat, round, wool-knitted cap with a toorie at the crown, worn as everyday dress long before it was worn as regimental or ceremonial kit, and it is one of the few Scottish garments that never became formal.

Daley’s is not knitted and not wool. It is patchworked from cotton in black and ecru, made in England, which changes what the hat is for. Wool makes it a winter object. Cotton makes it a summer one, and patchwork, which is a technique of assembling a whole from pieces, is a fairly direct statement from a designer whose entire practice is about assembling a whole from pieces. Nothing about the shape has been modernised. Only the material and the season have moved, which is the more interesting way to do it.

Why we selected it

We took this because it compresses Daley’s method into one small object: a Scottish form, an English making, a summer cloth, and a construction that is about joining things. It is also a genuinely good hat, which the argument would not save it from failing to be.

Nicholas Daley’s Scottish inheritance usually arrives as a cloth, and the tam o’ shanter is the one place it arrives as a shape.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, patchworked, made in England. Colours: black and ecru.

Sizing and how it is worn

Flat and round, worn pulled back on the head rather than down over the ears, which is what gives the tam its angle. Cotton has less give than a knitted wool, so it is less forgiving of head size than a traditional one would be. It packs flat and recovers.

Styling

With the Knitted Vest and the Hand-Crocheted Bucket Hats it belongs to the hand-worked group. Against the tartan pieces it is too much; against plain black, indigo, or oatmeal it is exactly right.

Care

Hand wash cool and reshape it while damp over something round, then dry flat away from heat. Never machine wash a patchworked hat, because the seams take all the strain. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Hand-Crocheted Bucket Hats are crocheted in a jute yarn and the Utility Bucket Hat in cumin is dyed by hand. The Wrap Kilt in black cotton is the cotton wrap, and the Knitted Vest in green the crocheted vest. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.