hat help

[silas thatcher]

after seeing a few people over the weekend at fort de chartres wearing wide brimmed hats to help combat the sun, i decided to purchase one... the hat needs a little reshaping ... i want to make a more pronounced edge where the brim meets the crown... hope this makes sense !!!

that way it won't slope down so much like the pic shows.. i am thinking that a bowl of the correct size to hold the shape of the crown while flattening the brim and maybe even something wrapped aroung the base of the crown ( a belt, rope ?? ) to help define the edge better... i dunno...

any advice would be appreciated :)

[captscurvy_nc]

steaming it to get the shape you want first is what's always worked for me. Just place it over a pot of boiling water while constintly turning it till the felt get's soft. Put it on and push up and pull out until you get the crown to the shape you want.

[onus-one-eye]

Go to the craft store and get a styro foam ball about the size of your head. Put it  inside you can cut it in half take a strip of cloth around the outside and place it on a plate wet down the hat steam or a spray bottle will work and wait to dry.  Just an idea

[captscurvy_nc]

I could give you some more specific instructions if you can post a pic of what you want the hat to look like when it's finished.

[Captain McCool]

There's also these:

http://www.hatshapers.com/

Which sound really cool. I badly want to get one for some projects of my own.

[silas thatcher]

want it to look more like this one ...

[silas thatcher]

that pic should give you a better idea...

[MarkG]

want it to look more like this one ...

You can get this shape with a steam iron an ironing board. Start at the edge and work your way in, going in a circle. Use plenty of steam. Try it on every now and then to be sure that you don't go in too far.

I have a hat like this except with a flat top that I shaped from a hat blank. It didn't take long to do although I do have to spray the brim with hat stiffener every couple of years.

Mark

[silas thatcher]

i'm thinking that i need to have something inside the hat to help hold the shape while i reshape the brim... mark, did you have issues with this ??

[lady constance]

geeee, maybe that bitch of a wife of yours wAs spot on...

iron--- steaming...

and if you are wanting a line, how about this...stove pipe from hardware store inside, the tie wrap around the out side...

and of course there is always the making of your head wrapped in decut tape-- yah know like a duct tape dummy for clothes-- make a duct dummy same as your head!....

full of ideas i tell yah.....

[MarkG]

i'm thinking that i need to have something inside the hat to help hold the shape while i reshape the brim... mark, did you have issues with this ??

I used a small, special purpose ironing board that is meant for sleeves to shape the crown. I also used something, I don't remember what, to get the sharp edge at the top of the crown. I don't think I had to use anything in the crown while I was shaping the brim. I don't use anything when touching it up.

Mark

[LadyBarbossa]

Hmmm.... will try a steam iron as well.

I tried steaming the blank over a boiling pot and tried to reshape it after it had been "shrinking and warping". But would not stretch.

I think what you need, Silas, is not just a means to reshape, but to actually block it... meaning, stretching it as it's steamed loose to once it cools, it's held into a whole new shape and perhaps I'd recommend something to keep it in place, too. Because a blank will NOT hold it's new shape without help. Been there, done that, the results were horrific.

If you don't have a proper hat block (check local antique stores for the crown hat block), use two heavy board planks to flatten the blank's brims while it's being stretched. Because with the type of blank you have... it's been shaped and stretched downwards. You generally need to restretch it and reshape it. Sorry, mate.

~Lady B

[Jas. Hook]

ST -

How about a scrap sheet of plywood with your head circumference cut out (try cardboard as a pattern mock-up first)

Jig saw the hole in the plywood and sand as necessary

Place the holed plywood over the crown to flatten down the brim on a flat surface

For long term, backup the brim with an additional flat piece of pylwood and pony clamp the plywood pieces to clamp the brim

Jas. Hook

[Guest]

I've had sorta good results by using boiling water and then ironing the inside edge of the brim...It doesn't come out as super crisp as I'd like, but close enough.

Wot Jas. Hook said about a wooden brim frame is very close to what Drill Sergeants and Park Rangers use to keep their "Smokey The Bear" hat brims properly shaped.

[Grymm]

Like others have mentioned it'll be easier if you have a block to pull your felt over. Either soak your felt in warm water or give it a good steaming (Wallpaper strippers are great for this....with a wee bit of tweaking) and whilst it's still warm pull it over your block to get a good shape on the crown, lash a string of a small belt around the level you want the brim to start and pull the felt out a bit making sure your 'stringline' doesnt move. Leave to dry.

Then steam iron with a damp linen cloth and shape the brim and angle tween crown and brim and iron out any wrinkles.

Make up a linen tape the circumfrence of your head and with a robust running stitch tack it inside the hat awhere the crown brim meet, this'll stop it moving when you sweat into it and give you summat to anchor a lining to.

Once you're happy with the shape stiffen it up hat stiffener (Usually a shellac dissolved in alcohol essentially a pale french polish).

Then you can whip stitch in a lining and sweat patch/band......pro'er job!

Edited June 25, 2010 by Grymm

[Grymm]

fleabay often has wooden and some polystyrene blocks/forms but you can use a right shaped bowl, treestump or hotknife your own from some polystyrene.