Wearing A sash?

[poncho]

Greetings,
Can somebody please direct me to, or perhaps explain plainly how to put on a sash? This is my first formal parade as a sergeant and I haven't the slightest inkling on how to get this damn thing on so that it looks right. I'm having the most trouble with the "knot " on the left hip. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

[Darrell Cochran]

Re: Wearing A sash?

Greetings,
Can somebody please direct me to, or perhaps explain plainly how to put on a sash? This is my first formal parade as a sergeant and I haven't the slightest inkling on how to get this damn thing on so that it looks right. I'm having the most trouble with the "knot " on the left hip. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

If you're a line sergeant - Not a First Sergeant, Sgt. Major, or Prinicipal Musician you don't need a sash ... But if you insist on encumbering yourself with the dang thing, it's much easier to do than it is to explain, but basically it's a granny knot - after you've wrapped the sash around your waist a couple of times leaving 12 inches or so from the right end, run the right end over the sash on your left side, then bring it up under the sash and let it fall over so that the ends hang together. Cover the whole thing with your waist belt to hold it in place.

[Tom Ezell]

Re: Wearing A sash?

Greetings,
Can somebody please direct me to, or perhaps explain plainly how to put on a sash? This is my first formal parade as a sergeant and I haven't the slightest inkling on how to get this damn thing on so that it looks right. I'm having the most trouble with the "knot " on the left hip. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Only the first sergeant, sergeant major, or principal musician would wear a sash, even for dress parade.

Basically, it ties the same way as an officer's sash:

It helps to have a servant assist you when dressing (after all a gentleman should not be expected to dress himself), but in the absence of a servant some bootlicking private may be substituted:

Start on the left side of your body

1. Let about 12-14 inches of one end of the sash hang straight down from your natural waist (at your belly button, not your hips).

2. Make a 45-degree fold, and bring the sash in front of your body and begin wrapping it around. It should go around twice with about 14-16 inches left; it should be wrapped snugly.

3. Take the remainder of the sash and tuck it under at the point where the 45-degree fold is, then bring the loose end up between your side and the sash. You now should have the two ends hanging side by side about the same length. If not, adjust things until they are. The dangling ends of the sash should not be longer than 18 inches.

4. Put on your sword belt with the end of the sash that you looped under and around (the end opposite from the one that was first hanging down) going OVER your sword belt

5. Arrange everything so that you can hook and unhook your sword without difficulty

Also note that when putting your hog butchering clothes on (going into battle) it is not necessary to wear your sash... one would not want to get it soiled... however it could be used as a tourniquet or bandage, and several period accounts refer to wounded officers using it in just this manner.

If you are ever assigned as the officer of the day, you are so identified by wearing the sash going over your shoulder. Again, start at the point of your left hip, make the 45-degree fold, bring the sash around the front of your body and loop it once around your waist. Bring the free end of the sash under the waist loop at the point where you made the initial fold, then bring the free end up across your chest and over your right shoulder. The free end then comes down across your back, with the free end being tucked under the waist loop, and brought up and allowed to hang over the waist loop as before. Adjust everything until the two ends hang side by side at about the same length, and you can hook and un-hook your sword without difficulty.

501. The Officer of the Day is known by the manner in which he wears his sash. It is passed over the right shoulder, and tied at the belt, under the left arm, and crosses the body diagonally. No other officer wears his sash in this way

Photographs show Officers of the Day wearing the sash in two different ways. In some cases the sash is worn once over the right shoulder and once around the waist tried at the left hip. Others wear it in the regulation “scarf” fashion, looped twice over the right shoulder and tied at the left hip.
tom

[Robert Braun]

Try this...

A more traditional way of donning the sash (according to antebellum paintings and ACW images) was the following:

1. Fold the sash to half its length, so that the tassles are side by side;
2. Grasp the fold in your left hand, and hold it next to your left hip;
3. Wrap the doubled sash around your waist, from your left hip, pulling it snugly around your back, across your stomach, and back to your left hip;
4. At the fold, open it slightly (notice it forms a kind of loop) and drop the two tassels down through this loop. Adjust and tighten as needed.

The friction fit of the sash will generally keep it in place until you can buckle your waist belt over it. Rememeber that Revised U. S. Army Regulations prescribed that the tassles be worn BEHIND the left hip, which few reenacting officers do.

...And no need for a striker to help you get dressed! Heck, you can even don your sash in the dark!

Enjoy...!


Bob.