jackadven
Fedora Lounge Artisan
- Messages
- 57
- Location
- North State California
I wanted to share the first hat I made. I had wanted to get into hatting since I got into hats, and eventually I intend to portray a hatter at Civil War reenactments as practically as possible given technology differences. I followed Robert Gault's online fedora course, which was great.
The hat I made for my father. It's a #51 Western crown with a 6.5" crown and 4" brim that I gave a fedora shaping to. (The brim is flanged to turn the ends up slightly, but otherwise it's just drooping.) Overall I think it is a pretty decent first hat, but the sweatband is uneven and puckery (and maybe sitting too low in the hat), the liner is too short for the crown, the ribbon isn't quite centered, you can see stitching around the bow, and the bashing isn't symmetrical. I also apparently over-sanded it, and it is noticeably slightly mottled if you look close. Fortunately my dad kinda liked it that way.
He wears it proudly and says it's the first such hat he's ever had that fit him properly and didn't touch the top of his head. It was overall an enjoyable, satisfying experience, though anything to do with sewing has a propensity to try my patience. Once I put hats on the rest of my family I think I'll be decent enough to make hats for some friends who want them, and I hope to make it into a small side business with a particular bent towards Civil War hat styles. And just like that, my spending money has a giant hole to go in now called Hat Blocks, heh.
It's really exciting to be learning this awesome trade!
(The HH stands for Halsted Hattery. I simply drew it with a Sharpie.)
The hat I made for my father. It's a #51 Western crown with a 6.5" crown and 4" brim that I gave a fedora shaping to. (The brim is flanged to turn the ends up slightly, but otherwise it's just drooping.) Overall I think it is a pretty decent first hat, but the sweatband is uneven and puckery (and maybe sitting too low in the hat), the liner is too short for the crown, the ribbon isn't quite centered, you can see stitching around the bow, and the bashing isn't symmetrical. I also apparently over-sanded it, and it is noticeably slightly mottled if you look close. Fortunately my dad kinda liked it that way.
He wears it proudly and says it's the first such hat he's ever had that fit him properly and didn't touch the top of his head. It was overall an enjoyable, satisfying experience, though anything to do with sewing has a propensity to try my patience. Once I put hats on the rest of my family I think I'll be decent enough to make hats for some friends who want them, and I hope to make it into a small side business with a particular bent towards Civil War hat styles. And just like that, my spending money has a giant hole to go in now called Hat Blocks, heh.
It's really exciting to be learning this awesome trade!
(The HH stands for Halsted Hattery. I simply drew it with a Sharpie.)
