Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

[deadlyhandsome]

I personally like velours and long hair finishes. However, on hats not requested to have those finishes I usually like the shortest possible nap to the fibers; I’ve heard it described as “bald.”

I’ve been contemplating another long hair custom, but it’s too late for a winter hat for 2020/2021.

 

[belfastboy]

I personally like velours and long hair finishes. However, on hats not requested to have those finishes I usually like the shortest possible nap to the fibers; I’ve heard it described as “bald.”

I’ve been contemplating another long hair custom, but it’s too late for a winter hat for 2020/2021.

I am thinking of making a brown long hair for myself and folks might mistake it for me having a head of hair.
I think I have the right amount of shellac on your black Borsa...tomorrow the ribbon.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I am thinking of making a brown long hair for myself and folks might mistake it for me having a head of hair.
I think I have the right amount of shellac on your black Borsa...tomorrow the ribbon.

Outstanding! I’m really looking forward to several of the hats you’ve working on.

 

[MagicMan]

Where's the best place to purchase a leather sweatband that I will be installing myself?

 

[belfastboy]

Where's the best place to purchase a leather sweatband that I will be installing myself?

FineVintageFedoras on Etsy.com sells them as does Tim @purebeaver Instagram. Both about the same price and both top quality. I use them both in my hats.

 

[jlee562]

Where's the best place to purchase a leather sweatband that I will be installing myself?

HI MagicMan,

Check out the hat making threads we have going for resources and links:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/hat-making-learning-millinery.57311/
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/the-conversion-corral.22306/

Your posts might be merged into existing threads, the mods tend to avoid clutter. For future reference, check out ask a question, get an answer: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/ask-a-question-get-an-answer.41576/

 

[belfastboy]

Here is my latest....made it for my ex boss as a thank you for some lab worked he comped me on. It is Pecan Winchester beaver. It is to be used as an outdoor/hiking hat so I thought it worked to leave it a little long haired and shaggy. It is dress weight so I applied a bit of shellac to the brim only. The concho is a real buffalo nickel domed and made into a concho.

 

[MagicMan]

Thanks, gentlemen.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I haven’t tried them so I can’t recommend them, but here’s another source:

https://www.sunrisehatsupplies.com/products/llama-leather-sweatbands

 

[Armando]

Question: To the amateur hatters in the Lounge...what do you do for your liners? I have a logo ready to go but when I priced out screen printed or embroidering on them the price was way tooo high. I am going to try the heat transfer on the material. It is cheap enough to give it a go. I make my own liners so can do the heat transfer before I sew the top to the sides. Anyone have experience in this?

Maybe have stamp made where you can use fabric paint? That was my first go just bought a generic “W”, then moved onto embroidery. Cost me $3 per embroider in each liner. abroad in Dominican Republic — my parents friend made them. Not sure on USA cost. Then I cut and sew the liners on my own. As others mentioned — some suppliers have them already made if you wish to go the paint stamp route.

 

[Armando]

Here is my latest creation. A Tonak bunny, 4 1/2" brim front, 5" sides, 2 3/4" brim. It is a dark blue but not a navy with Art's vintage grosgrain ribbon in a midnight blue/royal blue highlight. I need lots or work on my bows both to improve the quality and up my speed.....right now it takes forever! View attachment 247391 View attachment 247392

Very nice. Where can I find a bow and ribbon tutorial? Looking to improve my bow technique.

 

[belfastboy]

Very nice. Where can I find a bow and ribbon tutorial? Looking to improve my bow technique.

I have yet to find anything online regarding bow/ribbon work. Like most things....trial and error.....keep playing, keep practicing

 

[belfastboy]

Maybe have stamp made where you can use fabric paint? That was my first go just bought a generic “W”, then moved onto embroidery. Cost me $3 per embroider in each liner. abroad in Dominican Republic — my parents friend made them. Not sure on USA cost. Then I cut and sew the liners on my own. As others mentioned — some suppliers have them already made if you wish to go the paint stamp route.

silk screeners and embroidering companies here want upwards of $15 per liner for my logo. I ended up using sublimation printing transfers of my logo on to satin crowns and a coloured fabric for the side panels. Cost is about $4 per liner.

 

[belfastboy]

I will snap pics later today but the bad news is my dye job on the Winchester felt that mottled did not work at all. I cut the brim to my desired width before dyeing but did not take into consideration the deformation of the brim during the dyeing. As well when reblocking a felt that has been boiled can never be blocked in the same position. So I had to re trim the brim to even it out and voila expose some inner core that the dye did not reach. So now I have an Oreo cookie dye job on the brim. AND it looks much the same with the dye light in the spots that were mottled and lighter. So it is no different than it was originally except it is now a darker colour. It was fun to do but alas def not a success. I managed to even out some of the mottling by giving it a good luring......waaay more than I would do on a 'normal' felt but this was a grand experiment. The luring did even out some of the mottlling......but just some. I will call this hat my 'homage' to Nick Fouquet.

 

[jlee562]

Very nice. Where can I find a bow and ribbon tutorial? Looking to improve my bow technique.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-aj_-gaBX/
http://dalexs.whitvani.net/hat/hatpage.html

 

[Gobi]

I will snap pics later today but the bad news is my dye job on the Winchester felt that mottled did not work at all. I cut the brim to my desired width before dyeing but did not take into consideration the deformation of the brim during the dyeing. As well when reblocking a felt that has been boiled can never be blocked in the same position. So I had to re trim the brim to even it out and voila expose some inner core that the dye did not reach. So now I have an Oreo cookie dye job on the brim. AND it looks much the same with the dye light in the spots that were mottled and lighter. So it is no different than it was originally except it is now a darker colour. It was fun to do but alas def not a success. I managed to even out some of the mottling by giving it a good luring......waaay more than I would do on a 'normal' felt but this was a grand experiment. The luring did even out some of the mottlling......but just some. I will call this hat my 'homage' to Nick Fouquet.

"As well when reblocking a felt that has been boiled can never be blocked in the same position."
Can you please explain? I dont quite understand.

 

[belfastboy]

"As well when reblocking a felt that has been boiled can never be blocked in the same position."
Can you please explain? I dont quite understand.

Dyeing requires hot water just off the boil. This reverts the once blocked felt back to a formless cone. When cooled it has to be stretched back over the block and it is very hard if not impossible to get it back exactly in the same position as the original block. If you are slightly off centre by just 1/8" the felt will have one side or front'/back off by that 1/8". If you have to put tension on the felt to block it then just that action will deform it some.....enough to put it out of round. As well the felt does shrink slightly in the hot water and it may not shrink evenly which guarantees the second block will be off.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Dyeing requires hot water just off the boil. This reverts the once blocked felt back to a formless cone. When cooled it has to be stretched back over the block and it is very hard if not impossible to get it back exactly in the same position as the original block. If you are slightly off centre by just 1/8" the felt will have one side or front'/back off by that 1/8". If you have to put tension on the felt to block it then just that action will deform it some.....enough to put it out of round. As well the felt does shrink slightly in the hot water and it may not shrink evenly which guarantees the second block will be off.

Am I right in thinking this only really matters if the hat has a finished edge that you are trying to keep, or if you are trying to maintain the exact same brim dimensions? If it’s a raw edge that can be uniformed with a rounding jack and if there is brim width to spare is this a problem?

I also wonder if with the advent of non-wood blocks if the hat could be dyed on the block. I can see where this might cause issues with dye penetration, but that problem should be limited to the inside of the crown that won’t be seen anyway. It doesn’t address the uneven nature of felt shrinkage, but I don’t know how significant that is. Just some thoughts...I’m sure it would be awkward dyeing felt with a block attached.

 

[belfastboy]

Am I right in thinking this only really matters if the hat has a finished edge that you are trying to keep, or if you are trying to maintain the exact same brim dimensions? If it’s a raw edge that can be uniformed with a rounding jack and if there is brim width to spare is this a problem?

I also wonder if with the advent of non-wood blocks if the hat could be dyed on the block. I can see where this might cause issues with dye penetration, but that problem should be limited to the inside of the crown that won’t be seen anyway. It doesn’t address the uneven nature of felt shrinkage, but I don’t know how significant that is. Just some thoughts...I’m sure it would be awkward dyeing felt with a block attached.

the issue is trimming the brim after dyeing exposes the undyed portion of the felt just underneath the surface. I have not found a way to get the dye to penetrate deeply enough. I thought by trimming the brim first and very carefully reblocking I would be okay but did not get it exact enough and ended up with a skewed brim. The only fix now is to give it a bound brim treatment to hide the exposed undyed felt.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

the issue is trimming the brim after dyeing exposes the undyed portion of the felt just underneath the surface. I have not found a way to get the dye to penetrate deeply enough. I thought by trimming the brim first and very carefully reblocking I would be okay but did not get it exact enough and ended up with a skewed brim. The only fix now is to give it a bound brim treatment to hide the exposed undyed felt.

I know there has been talk here in the past on using a pressure cooker to help with dye penetration. My own attempts at dyeing felt didn’t work out so well.