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  1. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    I am still working on my hat and my hat block. Yesterday I had to make some modifications on my hat block. I cut it down to 6" high and sanded the sides down a little. The block was too high, when I used it, a bulge would form at the crown break of the felt. This if the first hat that I have...
  2. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hi BB, Thank you for all of your help. I am learning a lot from you. I have seen the tailors binding tape on sweatbands, I had no idea what it was, that is why I gave the book binding tape a try, of course it never held the sweatband ends together properly. Looks like I will be reworking my...
  3. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hi BB, Thank you for the information on the vinyl painter's tape, I didn't know that there was a tape strong enough to hold the ends of the sweatband together. I have read your post a couple of times. When do you install a Ferrule? Do you start sewing the sweatband bands together at the reed...
  4. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hi BB, When you cut your sweatband ends, do you cut the ends straight or do you cut the ends at a slight angle? I cut the ends of my sweatbands straight, no taper of angle. I guess that if you cut the sweatbands with a slight angle, you could get a bell shape from the leather as well as a bell...
  5. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hello Everyone, I cut the brim down today, the brim is 3.25" wide, I had very little waste. I cut my sweatband down yesterday, 23 3/8" long then cut the reed at 24". I have got to find a better way to hold the sweatband ends together while I sew the ends together. I managed to get a bell shape...
  7. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    I don't have anything to set the brim/crown break, I just leave the blocking cord in place and use the steam iron to work the crown break into the felt. When I was at Home Depot recently, I was looking for a piece of Walnut. If I had the wood, I could make a tool to make the crown break. I was...
  8. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    I have been thinking about taking two-disc shaped pieces of wood, 1"x24"x24" and cutting oval shaped holes in both pieces, soaking the hat felt, then place the hat felt between the two pieces of wood, both pieces of wood together, steam the felt crown, put the crown block in the felt, then add...
  9. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hi BB, Since getting the top crown area of the felt down onto the block is the hardest part of the battle during the blocking process, can you think of a way to stretch out that area before trying to stretch it over the block? I guess you could stretch it out by soaking in hot water and steaming...
  10. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

  11. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hi BB, I was reading your post and realized that you use felts that you get from the Millinery Warehouse. I purchased my felt from the Millinery Warehouse also. It was listed as a Western Weight hat blank 180grams and after sanding it all over inside and out it still weighs over 180 grams. This...
  13. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hello Everyone, Well, I cut a hole in my new circle shaped board for my crown block to sit in. I bought a new circle shaped board from Home Depot 1"x24"x24" and a piece of wood, Walnut 1"x3"x24", the Walnut board, I used to make a Puller Downer, not as nice looking like the hat tools being sold...
  14. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hello Belfastboy, I have been reading all of the post over again and could you tell me what blocking springs are? I used some thumb tacks to hold the brim in place until the hat dries out, something that I am not keen on, the only good thing about using thumb tacks is I still have to cut the...
  15. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hello Mr. Fawcett, Thank you for all of your help with my problem hat, looks like I will have to continue to work on the wrinkles using the iron and stretching. I still have a small bubble on top and I have been able to work the wrinkles down some just not all the way. Last night as the hat was...
  16. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hi Mr. Jones, I was reading your post again and looking at the photos, I have a few questions. I was wondering what is the crown height on your Blue Resistol and how long do you leave your hats over the pot of boiling water to steam them? I may not have let my hat blank sit in the steam long...
  17. Darrell2688

    Learning to make hats, I learn something new every day.

    Learning to make hats, I learn something new every day.
  19. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hello Everyone, Yesterday evening I soaked the brim and bottom part of the crown, then plugged in the antiques iron and started working on the wrinkles, as I ironed the wrinkles I pulled the brim out some and used the thumb tacks to anchor the brim edge. I put the tacks as close to the edge of...
  20. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hello Everyone, I did try the method used by Steve Delk and Marc Kitter with this hat blank, I put a big pan of water on the stove and heated it to a rolling boil and then put the felt over the pan and left it until the steam had penetrated the felt. Steam was flowing through the felt, the felt...
  21. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hi Chicago, I soaked the hat in the kitchen sink for about 15 minutes or more, it was saturated, when I pulled the hat out of the sink, the water flowed like pouring it from a bucket. When I first put the hat in the sink, I filled the crown with hot tap water and rubbed it in until the outside...
  22. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Hello Brent, Well yes, I made my own hat block, it has changed some since the first time that I made it. I made it to exact measurements for a 7 3/8" hat and since my hat size is 7 3/8" after putting in the sweatband it didn't fit of course. I made some measurements of my head, 23.25" and to...
  23. Darrell2688

    Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

    Belfastboy, I just finished watching Art Fawcett Vintage Silhouettes, that video has a lot of information packed into it, I soaked my hat in hot tap water before I even tried to put it on my block, that only helped a little, while forcing the hat down onto the block the felt formed a air pocket...
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