Neckerchiefs

[eagle90]

Our troop is in need of re-ordering our custom neckerchiefs. While we do have a local screen printer who will do the printing for us I do need to order the blank neckerchiefs (black with orange piping). I just found out our previous source is now out of business. Any suggestions as to a source? Who have you used and recommend? As usual, thanks for your help!

 

Dale

[John-in-KC]

Have you considered:

 

Setting a standard for cloth ?

Buying cloth on the bolt?

Cutting blanks?

Asking parents who sew to hem the blanks?

 

I ask this seriously; you eliminate costs of shipping and handling, as well as costs of labor in making the neckers.

 

The Troop of my youth did this. It's almost 40 years later, and my necker is still serviceable!

[epalmer84]

You also need to consider the trademark royalties. The BSA has elected to enforce this more closely recently. Your supplier must go through council and become an authorized supplier.

 

Our troop has been looking at neckerchiefs. We are considering the old-style 32" version. All of those uses for the neckerchief (first aid, etc.) were written up for the larger version and will not work with the current fashion.

 

* http://www.inquiry.net/uniforms/neckerchief/how_to.htm

 

 

Ed

[eagle90]

All I am wanting to purchase is blank neckerchiefs. There are no trademarks of any kind on them. We have used the silk screeened design for over 20 years, and there are NO BSA logos of any kind on them.

 

I last purchased them about 5 years ago for about $2.50 to $3.00 each. At that price it's not worth making our own and finding local seamstresses to sew them.

[John-in-KC]

Prices 5 years ago may not be prices now...

 

I'd suggest googling for a vendor.

[beaver1onit]

Try Chief Neckerchief,our troop had good luck with them very easy to work with.

 

Chief Neckerchief

11 Paterson Ave

Midland Park,N.J. 07432

 

info@chiefneckerchief.com

[Stosh]

One has to remember that a traditional neckerchief is just that traditional.

 

We have a traditional troop neckerchief AND the boys have also opted for patrol neckerchiefs (partly in protest of the tradition). They opted for a larger neckerchief, square and useful. It is a Myer's flag square, red on white, very useful for signalling and for first aid, and with handmade woggles sets them apart.

 

Any seamstress/tailor can make them, and if anyone can work a sewing machine and do a rolled edge, it's a piece of cake. I'm not a tailor, but I can run a straight-stitch hem with no problem. Check your yellow pages and you'll do just fine. It also makes sense to have a larger neckerchief for the larger boys. With some of the football players we have in our troop, some of them look rather dumb with only a couple of inches sticking out below the slide.

[Stosh]

I also forgot to add.

 

A print program, iron on transfer paper and a color printer will do a major job of reducing the cost of silk screening.

 

For a couple of dollars each, neckerchiefs can be quickly made for all occasions.

[oldsm]

I checked the link in epalmer's post above. My troop has made custom neckerchiefs for years. They are a plain cotton broadcloth triangle with our troop patch sewn on. We need new ones - have already obtained new patches with updated text on them, but have not yet cut/sewn the fabric.

 

The last few years, the neckerchiefs seemed to be too small. So last night I followed the directions in the link. If I read correctly, BP's original neckerchief was a 32" (finished size) SQUARE of fabric that was then folded into a triangle before rolling and placing around the neck. While it is "full", I found it almost too full, being very bulky and difficult to roll/fold.

 

I tried another one the same size, but made it triangular. That was better, but still hard to roll - maybe because the sizing has not been washed out of the fabric yet.

 

The other difference I noticed is that following the directions, the grain of the fabric is at a 45-degree angle to the ground (with the point in the back). Our old ones were cut such that the grain is parallel to the ground. Is there likely to be any long-term noticeable difference in how the neckerchief wears/looks/holds up with the different grain?

[Stosh]

Our honor patrol has adopted the Myer's signal flag as their neckerchief. It is white background with red square in the middle. The signal flag was supposed to be 24" square and as you said the regular neckerchief was supposed to be 32" square. I compromised at 29". It gives a full, nice looking neckerchief, but will not take the traditional sized woggle. We do not roll the neckerchief, it is gathered instead. It lays in folds rather than a neat roll. Look at the pictures of neckerchiefs painted by Rockwell. You will notice most are gathered, not rolled and are of the larger/fuller sizes. Because of their size, they will not go under the collar and instead are always over the collar. Our boys have also chosen to go with the hand tied turk's head knot and adjust it so it fits nicely over the gathered tails. They also adopted the BP example of putting the woggle on vertically rather than horizontally and tying a square in the tails. It is thus impossible to lose the woggle. It is very noticable with the size and color these boys have a real neckerchief. The signal flag is handy, the larger size makes a better medical sling/bandage and the woggle offers a way of tying the flag to their staff or signaling. It's practical and looks nice.

[SSScout]

Neckerchiefs...

 

Not too many Scouters around here wear'em. Some Troops opt to NOT wear'em. Troop of my youth had a custom design ("Always on the Go!"), and it was the BIG version. I agree that the SMALL version looks less appropriate on an adult or a large Scout. And one really can't do too many of the assumed uses too easily with the SMALL version.

Signaling? You folks do Signaling? No longer a REQUIREMENT on any but the Signaling merit badge. You teach a non-requirement? Do the boys enjoy it? omygod.....

[SSScout]

Neckerchiefs...

 

Not too many Scouters around here wear'em. Some Troops opt to NOT wear'em. Troop of my youth had a custom design ("Always on the Go!"), and it was the BIG version. I agree that the SMALL version looks less appropriate on an adult or a large Scout. And one really can't do too many of the assumed uses too easily with the SMALL version.

Signaling? You folks do Signaling? No longer a REQUIREMENT on any but the Signaling merit badge. You teach a non-requirement? Do the boys enjoy it? omygod.....

[Stosh]

Whatever it takes to keep interest I use. Signalling? At our last campout we had boys fighting over the telegraph keys, whining about their flashlights not having the signal button on them, and trying to jerry-rig their triangular neckerchiefs on a stick to work something out. I killed off a whole afternoon of no-snow winter camping with that ad hoc idea. And by the way, the boys can signal from one side of study hall to the other without having to leave the evidence of a passed note. American Sign Language is actually something they can use when they wish to discuss something while a meeting is in progress. I can communicate with my SPL as he leads the meeting.

 

The next lesson is fire-starting without matches..... The magnesium was just a "flash-in-the-pan" no-brainer. The boys are now in the process of making char-cloth for flint and steel and whittling out their drills.

 

Stosh