Stitch Awl Tutorial - Sweatband Installation

[scottyrocks]

Potentially stupid question re the stitch awl:

I bought a package that contains 70/9 Singer sewing machine needles. They are too small for the Tandy Leather stitich awl I bought. The chuck wont tighten down enough to keep it in place. Wrong needle? Wrong stitch awl? Something else?

 

[Brad Bowers]

I haven't seen the Tandy awl, but I would say it's the difference in the awls. You might have to find a way to bulk up the needle for the chuck, like wrapping duct tape around it, or a similar method. As long as the needle won't move on you.

Brad

 

[astaire]

This is another great info from Mr. Bowers.

Just wondering if the same method applies to panama hats? I have always wondered about this.

Thanks for posting this info Brad!

 

[Bob Smalser]

The chuck wont tighten down enough to keep it in place.

Just look for needles with fat shanks and a groove and eye sufficiently large for button or upholstery thread.

These Pfaff #130 denim needles work fine with upholstery thread.

And if you wax your thread first with a candle stub or piece of beeswax, it's easier to keep the stitches tight. All these harness stitchers were intended for use with waxed thread.

 

[scottyrocks]

Okay, thanks, guys.

Im using the large needle that came with my awl.

I have to say, at this point, that this is an exasperating process. Im getting the hang of what Im doing, but how many ways can you put a piece of thread through a loop?

Ill tell you. Quite a few different ways, apparently, because half the time when I pull the awl out, the needle is in the middle of the stitich instead of on the end of it and I either have to unthread the needle, put it through the loop on the outside and rethread, or I have to take the stitch out completely and redo it. I dont get what Im doing wrong. Theres only one loop in there when you put the needle in.

Anyway, I'm about a 1/4 the way around, and its going well, if slowly. Ive been taking pictures along the way, and I guess Ill post the whole thing when (or if I ever get) finished.

 

[Brad Bowers]

That's what I meant when I said you have to be careful which loop you put the thread through.

Oh, yeah, it's slow going through the learning process, and just using a needle and thread is faster until you get the hang of the stitch awl. I guess I should only recommend the stitch awl if you're going to be doing quite a few hats. One or two, it's probably not worth the trouble to learn.

Keep going, you'll get there.

Brad

 

[Bob Smalser]

... because half the time when I pull the awl out, the needle is in the middle of the stitich instead of on the end of it and I either have to unthread the needle, put it through the loop on the outside and rethread, or I have to take the stitch out completely and redo it....

It's simple, it just takes some practice. Even with fixing your mistakes, the stitch awl is a heckuva lot easier than making all those lock stitches using traditional needle and sewing palm.

The needle has a grooved side and a smooth side.

Always insert the needle so the grooved side has a consistent orientation.

Always insure the loop you form to insert the backing thread into is on the smooth side of the needle.

 

[scottyrocks]

I like the idea of the stitich awl because it makes sewing machine stitches, but by hand, so to speak.

 

[scottyrocks]

Okay, now Ive got the hang of it. And I also figured out that if the needle winds up in the middle of the stitch, I can pass the awl through the loop on the outside, and itll be in the right place.

Moving along smartly, now. Im psyched!

 

[scottyrocks]

I was on such a roll last night after my 'passing the awl through the loop' discovery that I stayed up until you-dont-wanna-know-when, and finished the hat completely - sewed up the back stitching, put the ribbon back on, and fitted the liner. I will post pics at some point after I get home.

I had also discovered that attaching a sewing needle to the end of the inside piece of thread made it tremendously easier to place the thread through the inside loop under the sweat.

 

[scottyrocks]

Okay, here we go.

Here's the hat before work began. Notice the ragged sweat, to the point of that wire sticking out of it (terminology, please?) and plastic liner at the top of the crown.

Here's the hat with the old sweat removed. Seam rippers rock.

Old sweat / new sweat:

Completely stripped down:

I used another Dobbs of mine to give me an idea of just where the bottom of the sweat is supposed to sit:

I tried basting the sweat in, but it was impossible. So I did this instead. Worked great:

 

[scottyrocks]

I used Brad's photo as a guide as to what the stitching should look like. here's mine. They were pulled tight before tieing off. I tried a letter opener but had better success with the shank of the stitch aw's needle:

All tied off. omg, did I go through a learning curve here:

Ribbon put back:

I carefully tore the ragged plastic out of the liner and reinserted it with double sided tape:

It's by no means perfect, but I think it's quite good for a first attempt. The next one, in almost as bad condition, should go a bit quicker.

 

[ScottF]

Excellent tutorial. I have three stripped hats that I need to add sweatbands to. I would like to use leather, but one of them has been stretched as far as possible and I can only get away with grosgrain. Anyone have details on how to sew these ribbons in as sweatbands?

Regarding leather sweatbands, I could only find these at Leko (Hatsupply.com) - can anyone recommend additional sources?

 

[scottyrocks]

Seeing how grosgrain is not normally used for sweats in fedoras, I see no reason not to sew it in the same way and just leave the stitches expose on the inside of the hat. Once they are pulled tight, they should look fine, and not cut into your head. Just stitch in a nice straight line, and it should be fine.

If you buy a sewn-and-folded over fabric sweat, you may have the same size-&-fit issues as if you had used traditional leather, so a single layer of grosgrain may be the way to go.

Does anyone know how grosgrain feels against the head?

 

[ScottF]

Seeing how grosgrain is not normally used for sweats in fedoras, I see no reason not to sew it in the same way and just leave the stitches expose on the inside of the hat. Once they are pulled tight, they should look fine, and not cut into your head. Just stitch in a nice straight line, and it should be fine.

If you buy a sewn-and-folded over fabric sweat, you may have the same size-&-fit issues as if you had used traditional leather, so a single layer of grosgrain may be the way to go.

Does anyone know how grosgrain feels against the head?

Thanks, I'll sew one in today and post the results. I was at the hat shop yesterday and they showed me straws with grosgrain sweats. They also said that the grosgrain doesn't do much to protect the straw from sweat.

 

[ScottF]

pdf file for printing

Ran this by Brad, and he's okay with posting - pdf file of Brad's Stitch Awl Tutorial, along with relevant comments:

Stitch Awl Tutorial - pdf

 

[steveforse]

This is a great tutorial for the do-it-yourselfer. Couldn't we have a section in the forums for this kind of stuff and then sticky a few of these more useful threads in there?

 

[Mario]

Hmm...please forgive me my ignorance but are you not supposed to stitch only halfway through the felt when attaching a sweat? I wouldn't know how to do that in the first place but I always thought that this was the technique you use on felt hats. [huh]

The reason I'm askingg is because my nice taupe colored Dobbs 20 just turned into a beater... :eusa_doh:

Ever since I got it there was a little spot at the front top of the crown where the felt looked slightly pinched. Today I found out that it's actually a hole that goes all the way through the felt. The sweat was brittle and flakey anyway, but when I was examining the hole today it just fell apart. Now I have a hat to try my hands on. I'm scared...

The original sweat was unreeded and so I'd like to use a new unreeded sweatband which I got for cheap from a local manufacturer.

The pinch as seen from the outside...

There's a light at the end of the tunnel...

Stripped down...with the new unreeded sweat...

 

[ScottF]

Hmm...please forgive me my ignorance but are you not supposed to stitch only halfway through the felt when attaching a sweat? I wouldn't know how to do that in the first place but I always thought that this was the technique you use on felt hats. [huh]

The reason I'm askingg is because my nice taupe colored Dobbs 20 just turned into a beater... :eusa_doh:

Ever since I got it there was a little spot at the front top of the crown where the felt looked slightly pinched. Today I found out that it's actually a hole that goes all the way through the felt. The sweat was brittle and flakey anyway, but when I was examining the hole today it just fell apart. Now I have a hat to try my hands on. I'm scared...

The original sweat was unreeded and so I'd like to use a new unreeded sweatband which I got for cheap from a local manufacturer.

You found someone who makes unreeded sweatbands? Unless you're quite the seamstress, that's going to take some work.

The vintage unreeded sweatband hats I have are all sewn part-way through the felt, as you noted. The reeded ones are now done like the example Brad gave; however, I do have a 1920-30 western with a reeded sweatband, that is in fact sewn only partially through the felt - it's an anomaly as far as I can tell, and I would never attempt to do that myself.

 

[Falcon Park]

Tutorial

Brad-- I just found this thread a couple of weeks ago, and I am now indebted to you for life! Sewing in sweatbands has been the bane of my existence until this. I hated it so much that I was ready to blow a bunch of money that I don't have on a vintage Singer! Thanks so very much for your generosity in sharing this tutorial!!