It's actually a sewing machine needle. I work it like a stitch awl, though. To be honest, if I had a millenary sewing machine that did this, you better believe I wouldn't be sewing this sh*t by hand. It's a literal pain in the a$$.
John Lofgren Monkey Boots Shinki Horsebuttt - $1,136 The classic monkey boot silhouette in an incredibly rich Shinki russet horse leather. 
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - $395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. 
Schott 568 Vandals Jacket - $1,250 The classic Perfecto motorcycle jacket, in a very special limited-edition Schott double rider style. 
You can do it with a general sewing machine and the closed loop method that Art shared in another thread some time ago. I am lucky enough to have a Singer 108w20 and the binding attachment but it requires the grosgrain ribbon to have a well pronounced vwoven edge. Last week I bound a hat with vintage grosgrain that had a very fine woven edge and the attachment didn't work so I did the closed loop method and took it to my vintage general sewing machine and it did great.
Unfortunately for me, though, a very tight budget these days won't even allow me the luxury of the proverbial "pot to pi$$ in". Otherwise I'd definitely give it shot. So for me, I'm stuck with hand sewing. On the upside, I'm getting better and better at hand sewing. On the downside, I still hate hand sewing.
if I don't have a styrofoam head or shaper, how do you suggest I do this?I guess I use a method similar to that instruction pic. Start with a center dent then just sorta shape it with my hand until the dent is rounded. Once I have it roughly teardrop shaped, I use one of those Styrofoam heads to give it that bubble in the center
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I have used my hand before. I took my fingers and pressed up from the inside while keeping my other hand in the outside to try to maintain the ridge I was creating. From there is just working your fingers inside and outside to get the ridge and overall shape you want.
I thought the biggest difference between them is the height of the crown in the rear of the hat. Teardrop has a more pronounced drop than a C crown. I'm sure the better experts will be along soon.
The crown height doesn't matter much; the difference is the shape of the crowns when viewed from the top:
Thanks.The crown height doesn't matter much; the difference is the shape of the crowns when viewed from the top:
Imagine the "point" at the tops of these shapes is the pinch. The Teardrop makes a smooth transition around the crown and returns to the pinch, like the shape of a teardrop; the C-Crown makes a reasonably straight line towards the rear of the crown on both sides, but there is a noticeable "break" in the shape between that transition from straight to curved. The two hats should look a little like this when viewed from the top, side-by-side:
Hope this helps to explain it.
The angle of the top of the crown(s) are usually a personal choice made by the person who wears those hats regardless of the crease. I personally prefer the rear of the crowns on my hats to be at least slightly lower than the front, but it really depends on the hat. BTW, around here we call a crease on which the front is significantly taller/higher than the back a "Tugboat".
