Bushwalk Australia

I just finished something loosely based on the Finnish head covering and made from a fleece scarf my SIL gave me in America because she didn't think I had gear suitable for a New York winter. She was wrong, I think I had gear much warmer than hers or any of the family; I over catered.
I cut the scarf to the shape of my neck and use the off-cut to add a second layer to the face area and stuffed some generic polyester batting in between and then added a windproofing layer of light weight Taslan nylon over the head section.
It's very warm and when worn the double overlapping fleece section will keep the carotid area well protected. If Cecile doesn't want it for the winter I'll give it away to somebody who winter camps and really feels the cold

Nice!

I have just started sewing the fur ruff to this. Turns out those Canucks and Inuit are right and real fur in a ruff makes a huge difference.
It's gone from quite warm to extremely warm, sewing the leather isn't all that difficult but I've gone through 2 glovers needles already and I might need to buy a large pack of them from some speciality supplier because these ones from Spotlight are crapola.
Doing some reading and online research it seems that you are supposed to fill the core of these ruffs with wadding. Cecile says it isn't needed but I may do so if I can find a scrap of polyfill the right length.
Trimming and restitching the olf fur collar from the Op-Shop took about an hour and I've probably got about 4 hours of hand sewing all up.
I do now feel a bit more confident about tackling the big ruff for the Arctic parka using the very expensive Timber Wolf fur I bought on eBay

Sewing leather on domestic machine.....

Spotlight sells up to 16g leather point needles, which are just ok. Sometimes you can get 18g needles, but not easily.

However, I did get some 20g leather point needles in eBay from some place in Goulburn NSW. They are the biggest that will fit a domestic seeing machine, and are great for punching through multiple layers of webbing. My limitation of sewing leather on my domestic machine has been partly related to largest needle size, but mainly due to thread size. I can’t get enough tension on the top bit to run the heavier threads, and pull them back up through the fabric.

A

This was all hand stitching Andrew, so the fur didn't get caught and to maximise the way the hairs sit and face out.
Hence the glovers needles

I'm about to start another one of these to fit my own head. I'm looking for my 3-piece hood pattern as those fit my head better.
Doing so because I have a spare fur here that is too soft to use as a ruff.

Needs more sweet chilli sauce...

I prefer my chili sauce a bit hotter but I'll make sure to use some when making the new cowl. Trying to decide on how much insulation to use with the prequilted lining and whether a single layer of fleece might be enough in combination with the liner.