Hat Making Projects

[Western New York Indy]

Hello!

A while ago I posted a thread about my first self-made Raiders hat. I got some really great feedback and I am incredibly grateful for the kind words people had to say about my work. A few folks expressed interest in seeing my next hat making project, so I thought I'd make this thread to keep you guys updated on what I'm working on.

Right now I have two main projects goin on. One is not Indy related, but is really helping me grow my skills and improve.

I'll start with the Indy hat. I just ordered a 100% rabbit felt body from Millinery Warehouse in chocolate brown. It should be arriving today! It's a tad darker than your usual sable color, but I used this color for my last Indy hat and really liked it. Plus, it'll lighten a bit with age, so I thought it better to start a bit darker. Millinery Warehouse does offer a sable color, but it's currently out of stock. When it re-stocks in April, I plan to order it and make another hat so I can continue testing different colors to find what I like the best. For ribbon on this hat, I ordered dark brown ribbon from Guy Morse-Brown (Thanks to Tremolo and Dalexs for pointing me in the right direction!) The sweatband is also coming from Guy Morse-Brown.

This Indy hat will be the first made on my new 3D printed block, which I designed in Fusion and is currently being printed. This block was designed in the hopes of making a really good open crown shape for my Indy hats. It has no taper and minimal rounding on the top. If this block works well, I will be using a CNC machine to make a set in wood. I may also attempt to make a set of flanges with the CNC machine.




The non-Indy hat is being made from a beaver felt Cavanagh hat body, graciously given to me by Gary White. The brim has the signature Cavanagh Edge, which for those who might not know, was a welted edge created without the use of glue, stitching, folding the felt over, or any such methods. Instead, the welted edge was created during the process of making the hat body. To my knowledge, no other hat company is currently making hats with a welted edge in this manner, as it is rather complex and time consuming. At least for now, Cavanagh was the only company that could make a welted edge like this. I'll be using vintage 1930s ribbon on this hat to really pull together the look I'm going for. I'm not usually a huge fan of the short brimmed look, but since this hat body was given to me with a predetermined brim size (one of the side effects of the welted edge) I don't mind it too much. Here are a few photos in case you're interested in my progress. I'm currently working on sewing in the sweatband.
The hat being blocked

Sweatband being sewn in- this is my first time sewing through the reeding tape on the back and not through the pre-punched holes on the front of the sweatband. It's more time consuming, but looks better, in my opinion. This was also my first time using a metal ferrule to bell the sweatband, which I think also really improves the quality of the hat.

I hope a few people find this interesting. I really love the craft of hat making and hope to continue honing my skills. Any feedback at all is appreciated!

-WNY Indy

[Indiana Jeff]

Looks good. I’m always so impressed with the talent of our members.

I’m interested to see the interior structure of your printed hat block.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Western New York Indy]

Thanks!

I designed the block with a big ol' hole in the middle to cut down on the amount of filament it would use.

It only goes about three-quarters of the way up so that the top of the block is pretty solid. However, the printer generated supports for the hollowed out section, so it'll probably have a ton of plastic in there anyway. The fill is only set at 40%, if I'm remembering correctly, so the walls aren't as solid as they would be with a wood block. I'm hoping it will be sturdy enough to hold up to the blocking process. If not, I'll go back to the drawing board and start again.

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

Dang, my friend! That is really awesome. Making your own block is amazing, the hats you make will be really made from scratch all around!

The Cavanagh looks great and the sweat band too. Very nice, clean work.

Looking forward to seeing your new tools and projects. Keep up the great work.

Cheers,
Bear

[Western New York Indy]

Dang, my friend! That is really awesome. Making your own block is amazing, the hats you make will be really made from scratch all around!

The Cavanagh looks great and the sweat band too. Very nice, clean work.

Looking forward to seeing your new tools and projects. Keep up the great work.

Cheers,
Bear

Thanks so much! I thought it would be fun to make my own block. That way I could create all the specifications I am looking for in an Indy hat myself. I was very much inspired by Steve Delk modifying and making his own blocks. I have also been inspired by you and others here who take things into your own hands and create pieces of gear and props. Being able to say you made or designed something is very satisfying and the process is a lot of fun. It also doesn't hurt that the printed block is way cheaper than buying one. I'm using a local university's 3D printer, and they pay for the filament... So it's pretty much free

Thanks for complimenting the cleanliness of my work! I have been taking my time with the Cavanagh to try to get everything as clean as possible. The only error I have made so far is that I made the sweatband the same size as the hat. I learned from talking with Gary White that you are supposed to size the hat up one cm so that the sweatband fits in easier. The sweatband still fits in fine, it just took a bit more finesse to get it to sit right. But I have learned, and the next hat I make I will correct this mistake. To jump franchises, as Grand Admiral Thrawn said, "Anyone can make an error. But that error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." That is something I'm learning with hat making, every little mistake helps you get better with the next hat.

-WNY Indy

[Jonesy Jr.]

Very nice. Keep doing good work.

[Western New York Indy]

The block is done printing. It turned out rather nicely. This one is a 61 cm block which I'll be using to make a size 60 hat for a relative. I'm a size 56, so I'm hoping to make a 57 cm block soon for my own hats. The block ended up needing a few different colors of filament, so it's not as pretty as a wood block, but it'll do the job! I'll start working with this block this week.





-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

The block looks great, proper job, my friend. Can't wait to see the lids you produce with it.

And you just answered an age old question I had... how to choose a block for a certain size. I always thought that the sweatband would reduce the size a lot and it was very confusing for me.

But this makes a lot of sense, so thanks for the info!

Cheers,
Bear

[Western New York Indy]

The block looks great, proper job, my friend. Can't wait to see the lids you produce with it.

And you just answered an age old question I had... how to choose a block for a certain size. I always thought that the sweatband would reduce the size a lot and it was very confusing for me.

But this makes a lot of sense, so thanks for the info!

Cheers,
Bear

Thanks! I was happy with how it turned out. I think it should work well, but we will have to see. I was surprised a bit by the size of it, it looks like an absolute beast compared to my 56 cm block.

Yeah, I was always confused by that as well until I could ask a hatter about it. Generally the block is a size up from the wearer's actual head size, because like you said, the sweatband reduces the size about a centimeter. What makes it more confusing is that not everyone uses the language of block size vs head size the same way. When you get a hat you could be ordering the block size or you could be ordering the head size... To my understanding, that's one of the reasons that some brands are "true to size" and some are a size up. That's why I like to use the language of calling a block by its measurements in cm and calling a head measurement a size. So I'd call the block I just made a 61 cm block, but I'd call the hats made on it size 60 hats. The whole concept of head size vs block size threw me for a loop for a bit, but now I think I have it figured out... Or at least I hope so

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

WNY Indy, this just giving me hat buying anxiety. And it was already very stressful.

Cheers,
Bear

[Western New York Indy]

WNY Indy, this just giving me hat buying anxiety. And it was already very stressful.

Cheers,
Bear

Maybe we should start a COW hat buying anxiety support group... Or maybe they should put a warning on websites selling hats- "Warning, may cause extreme stress"

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

WNY Indy, this just giving me hat buying anxiety. And it was already very stressful.

Cheers,
Bear

Maybe we should start a COW hat buying anxiety support group... Or maybe they should put a warning on websites selling hats- "Warning, may cause extreme stress"

-WNY Indy

I think that is a good idea: HBA? Hat Buyer's Anonymous? Yes, that would work.

Bear

[Western New York Indy]

I finished the Cavanagh two nights ago, but didn't have time to post the photos I took.




I think it turned out nicely, for my first beaver felt hat and my first non-Indy hat. I really love the ribbon work on this one, the vintage 30s ribbon worked way better than the plastic-y modern stuff I used previously. (There are a few things that look like frays on the ribbon in the picture, it's really just the stitches I used to fold over the ribbon in the back. They hadn't been trimmed back all the way yet when I took the picture.) I was really proud of the bash as well. It took forever to get it right, but it turned out pretty nice.


Now we're on to the Indy hat, which I started blocking last night. I say "started" because this one is going to be blocked a few times, mainly because getting the right crown height on the first block is hard with a bigger block like the one I'm working with currently. I got it to 5 inches on the first try, now I just have to squeeze a bit more out of it...

First I set it on a strainer over a pot of boiling water on the stove. If it doesn't softening up after a while, I wet my hand and flick the water off onto the felt. Then that water on the surface starts to steam and it permeates the felt better. I haven't had the courage to completely soak the felt and do a full wet block yet. I may need to with this hat though. We'll see.






Here it is after the first block. You can see a bit of "bubbling" on the top (the felt not being taught to the block) which has since been worked out. You have to keep steaming the folds that form on the top of the felt, and then push them off to the side with your fingers. It's a pain, but it must be done. Otherwise, no matter how straight-sided your block is, the felt will taper quite a bit.

-WNY Indy

[Jonesy Jr.]

Looking good. I especially like color of the last hat.

[Western New York Indy]

Looking good. I especially like color of the last hat.

Thank you! The color of the Indy hat is a color from Millinery Warehouse called "Chocolate," and it is a nice Indy color, even if it is just a tad darker. As for the Cavanagh, I have no idea what color it is It is some kind of light brown, and I like it a lot as well.

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

Great job on the Cavanagh, my friend! Looks awesome!

And the Indy hat is really shaping up nicely. Can't wait to see it finished.

Cheers,
Bear

[Western New York Indy]

Great job on the Cavanagh, my friend! Looks awesome!

And the Indy hat is really shaping up nicely. Can't wait to see it finished.

Cheers,
Bear

Thank you! I was happy with how it turned out. It's quite different style-wise from my preferred "daily driver" hat (which of course is an Indy hat) but it's fun to experiment with making a different style of hat.

I decided to do a full wet block on the Indy hat. I heated up water on the stove, then turned off the burner and dropped the hat body in. After it had soaked for a while, I stretched it over the block and steamed it with an iron. The combination of it being soaking wet and the heat and steam made it super pliable, more pliable then I ever thought felt could be. I got enough stretch out of it that the crown height is currently 6 inches! (I know it's not the best photo, but here's a picture of where we're at.)


It has to be a bit higher than the standard 5.5 inches at this point because the crown will lose some height during the process of decatising. Decatising is the process of steaming, wetting, and ironing the felt a few times, then letting it naturally dry. This helps to lock the fibers of the felt into place. After doing a lot of research I believe decatising to be part of the process Adventurebilt and a few other hatters used/use to "kill the felt." Most hatters decatise their hats so that the hats are more resistant to weather. There is apparently another "secret step" that was used by Adventurebilt that most people don't know about, though.

Right now I'm letting the felt just sit and settle into shape as it dries on the block. Then I'll decatise it a number of times and let it dry some more. After that, I'll get to work on the sweatband!

I also got my order in from Guy Morse-Brown with a bunch of the screen accurate ribbon they source from TW Bracher. You can get the ribbon at Guy Morse-Brown's Etsy site here https://www.etsy.com/listing/1278746500 ... 1278746500 From their main page here https://www.hatblocks.co.uk/product/galloon-ribbon/ Or from TW Bracher here https://tw-bracher.co.uk/product/galloon-ribbon/


On the right, we have the black vintage 30s ribbon I used on the Cavanagh. The middle and left are both the screen accurate Radiers ribbon from TW Bracher.

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

Looking great so far! And that is some great insight into the shaping process. Hat making lore is awesome, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Bear

[Western New York Indy]

Looking great so far! And that is some great insight into the shaping process. Hat making lore is awesome, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Bear

Thanks! Glad you found it interesting. I try to share as much knowledge as I can. I'm not by any means claiming to be a master hatter, but I've learned a lot and I want to make the information I have available to others. One of the hardest things for me during this hat making journey has been trying to find reliable an easily accessible information. My hope is that by sharing my process and what I'm learning along the way, other aspiring hatters will have it a bit easier than I did when I started out.

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

That is very nice of you, I am sure a lot of aspiring hatmakers will benefit from this. It is always hard finding info all together in once place for such things (thinking of whip making now too). And when you actually begin making such an object we stumble on all kinds of unknowns, so it's awesome to have this guide.

Looking forward to learning more and seeing the Indy hat finished.

Cheers,
Bear

[Tremolo]

Great thread! I love seeing the progress you are making and I can imagine how much fun you are having. Looking forward seeing the next steps of the Indy hat!

[Western New York Indy]

Great thread! I love seeing the progress you are making and I can imagine how much fun you are having. Looking forward seeing the next steps of the Indy hat!

Thanks! I certainly am having tons of fun! There are some things that are frustrating (like ironing all those folds that formed during blocking out of the brim) but the fun outweighs them. Overall, I'm just enjoying honing my skills and becoming a better hatter. Oh, also, thanks for pointing me in the right direction with finding ribbon. The ribbon from TW Bracher you recommended is what I'm using now and it words great compared to the plastic-y modern ribbon I used on my first two hats.

-WNY Indy

[The Aviator]

This is an excellent thread and resource, this is a new hobby of mine and I have struggled to get information/tips even from hobbyists.

I’ve received a no.52 block a week back and am on the lookout for old hats on eBay to get into deconstructing and reconstructing.

Thanks

Gerry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Western New York Indy]

This is an excellent thread and resource, this is a new hobby of mine and I have struggled to get information/tips even from hobbyists.

I’ve received a no.52 block a week back and am on the lookout for old hats on eBay to get into deconstructing and reconstructing.

Thanks

Gerry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm glad that this thread is helpful! If you are looking for any kind of info on anything hat making related, feel free to private message me. I am happy to help any way I can. I'm certainly not a master hatter, but I can help with finding felt suppliers, sweatband suppliers, and other material suppliers, or provide any information I can about hat making in general or things I've learned along the way. I certainly don't have all the answers, but I'd be happy to provide info on the things I can answer. I know it's a pain to get information about hat making since knowledge is often kept so close to the vest by most hatters.

-WNY Indy

[Western New York Indy]

The Indy hat is now off the block!

I really prioritized this hat's time on the block, just to let it sit and let the fibers settle. I tried to get as much work done as I could while it was still on the block. It's now been decatised and pounced up to 600 grit sandpaper. I wish I had some 2000 grit kicking around so I could pounce it as high as the AB deluxe hats were, but I think 600 is the highest I'll go with this hat.




The first attempt at printing my hat block failed after about 1 inch- which created a perfect band block! I inserted this band block after taking the hat off the block to make sure the hat maintains the correct dimensions while I work on the next few steps. It was super helpful during the process of ironing in a really good break line. You can probably see a few folds and ridges on the bottom of the brim. These will disappear as I continue to iron and pounce the brim.

Blocking, decatising, and pouncing has taken a while, but now we get into the fun stuff. Up next is cutting the brim and installing the sweatband.

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

That looks amazing, it's really taking shape. Really great work, my friend!

Cheers,
Bear

[Tremolo]

Beautiful, your open crown shape looks great! Have you already decided to which dimensions you want to cut the brim? That is always the most nerve-racking part for me

[Western New York Indy]

That looks amazing, it's really taking shape. Really great work, my friend!

Cheers,
Bear

Thanks! I always appreciate your positive feedback!

-WNY Indy

[Western New York Indy]

Beautiful, your open crown shape looks great! Have you already decided to which dimensions you want to cut the brim? That is always the most nerve-racking part for me

Thank you! I was super happy with the open crown shape I got off of this new block. We'll see how it turns out once I put the bash in. If this block shape performs well all around, I'm looking into making a few different sizes of it on a CNC machine. That way, I can also make it in wood.

As for the brim, I haven't cut it yet, but my plan is to go off of the dimensions on the main site. This will be my first hat using a rounding jack, instead of cutting it with a rotary fabric cutter after marking the dimensions with chalk. (Cutting the brim that way scares me so much- I can't imagine just taking a pair of scissors to it like Richard Swales )

My plan is to use the rounding jack for the front and back length of 2 ¾ inches and then either adjust the rounding jack to do the sides, or just use my rotary tool to get the dimensional cut. I guess I could scale up the dimensions of the brim because this is for a larger size head. I will probably do that with the hats I make in the future. The family member I'm making this hat for has a few cowboy hats, but he doesn't wear them much because he feels the brims are too big to wear when he's driving. So I decided on keeping the brim at the standard dimensions for him.

Do you know if there is a formula for scaling up the dimensions based on the head size?

-WNY Indy

[Western New York Indy]

A few more updates. I 3D printed a rounding jack using these free files.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6895234
It uses an Ex-ACTO knife blade and works quite well.



I also fashioned a pusher downer (such a descriptive name, I know) from an old hoe handle. It only took me a few hours working with a utility knife and sandpaper. It's not the prettiest tool, but it does the job.




I used my rounding jack to cut the brim to 2 and 3/4 inches all the way around, then chalked the brim and used scissors to cut the sides down to achieve the dimensional cut. While it's not perfectly symmetrical, I tried to cut it as clean as possible.

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

The tools you made look awesome! It is so nice to build your own tools, taking the hobby to another level.

And the trimmed brim looks outstanding, great work.

Cheers,
Bear

[Western New York Indy]

The tools you made look awesome! It is so nice to build your own tools, taking the hobby to another level.

And the trimmed brim looks outstanding, great work.

Cheers,
Bear

Thanks! I'm finding that I like building hat making tools quite a lot. It gives me something to do when I'm waiting for a shipment of supplies to arrive or letting the hat sit on the block for a week. Otherwise I get way too antsy and rush things, which is never good. Right now, I'm waiting for the sweatband I ordered to arrive. I accidentally cut the sweatband I was going to use just a tad too short, so I had to order a new one. Otherwise, I would be done by now... But oh well, the sweatband I cut wrong is still long enough to use on smaller head sizes. So luckily I didn't really loose any money on my mistake.

Glad you think it looks good! Trimming the brim is the part that always scares me the most. I used this thread by Marc Kitter to get the idea for using the rounding jack first, then trimming the sides with scissors. https://www.indygear.net/cow/viewtopic.php?t=22381


-WNY Indy

[Western New York Indy]

It's been a while since I posted my progress with the hat I'm currently working on. I suffered a bit of a setback while waiting for the sweatband to arrive (the manufacturer I use makes each sweatband made to order, so it takes a bit for them to arrive.) I'm almost completely done with this hat now! I sewed in the sweatband using a new technique where each stitch is threaded through the previous stitch to create a lock stitch of sorts. I've read on here that Adventurebilt used this technique to make sure that even if one stitch broke, the sweatband would hold. It worked out quite well, in my opinion. (Pardon the dirty felt, I brushed it off afterwards.)

There are a number of ways to sew in a sweatband. I personally prefer to sew through the reeding tape on the back of the sweatband. This keeps the stitches above the break line so that they won't peek out underneath the ribbon. Here's the sweatband as it was being sewn in.


I also worked on perfecting my ribbon work on this hat. I used Dalexs' tutorial to learn the basic process and I have been trying to refine my skills with every bow I make. I also got a lot of great advice from Kirk Brackmann of Broken Skull Hat Co. on how to shape the ribbon with water. Here are some pics of the bow as I was making it.


I think the bow on this hat is my favorite out of the bows I have done so far (which, to be fair, is only four, but I still think this one looks the best.)

I also added the liner. (it's not sewn in, just tucked behind the sweatband.)

At this point the hat is in its open crown state. I'm quite happy with how straight sided this hat has remained. I think the block shape I designed is performing well so far. I certainly can't take any credit for it though, as I relied on years of hard work and research from other dedicated fans in order to create a good Raiders block shape. Next up: bashing the hat!


-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

What a great job, impressive work. Looks really good!

All that's left is the lining and bashing! Cannot wait.

Cheers,
Bear

[Indiana Jeff]

Really nice job sewing in the sweatband.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Western New York Indy]

I just finished bashing the hat. I ended up going for an un-turned "general" Raiders shape. It's not too scene specific, since the relative who this is being made for is not a gear head like all of us here are, but is a more casual Indy fan who also happens to love hats. I decided that because of this, a more general shaping that still screams "Indy hat!" would suffice. Here are some photos (I'd take them with the hat on my head, but this hat is four sizes bigger than my head! Also, don't worry, I have something underneath supporting the hat. I'm not just laying it on the brim... It would drive me crazy if I did that )








Overall, I'm happy with how this hat turned out. I'm still definitely not claiming to be a master hatter, but I think this was a significant step up in my hat making journey. I think I really honed my skills with this hat and I am confident that it will hold up for many many years. I did my best to take my time and make sure it was very solidly constructed, as this will be going to a family member and I wanted to give them the best hat I possibly could. I appreciate any feedback that any of you might have. I'd love to get thoughts on what I could improve with the next hat I make.

One thing that I'll be doing differently with the next hat is the felt. This hat was made with midweight felt (around 160 grams) because my supplier didn't have any dress weight in stock. The midweight worked fine, but it's not quite as pliable as I'd like an Indy hat to be. (I have an order for a sable dress weight coming in tomorrow, which I expect will yield a more floppy Raiders-accurate result.)

This hat, fortunately, stayed nice and straight sided all the way through the process. There is even a bit of reverse taper going on, though it's more pronounced on one side of the hat. I personally see one side as being a bit more reverse tapered on many of the hats in Raiders, not just the Cairo hat. I have to thank Steve Delk for leaving behind so much great information from his years of studying the Raiders block shape. Without his old posts on this site, I wouldn't have been able to design my own block and yield this result.

I hope you enjoy the photos

-WNY Indy

[bearbeast]

The hat looks outstanding, very impressive and clean work.

You're relative is very lucky you made it for them.

Cheers,
Bear

[Western New York Indy]

Really nice job sewing in the sweatband.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Thank you! I really like using the technique of sewing through the reeding tape behind the sweatband. It takes a few hours longer than sewing through the pre-punched holes in the leather, but I think it looks cleaner.

-WNY Indy

[Western New York Indy]

The hat looks outstanding, very impressive and clean work.

You're relative is very lucky you made it for them.

Cheers,
Bear

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your encouragement!

I'm really hopeful that they like it. I will not be able to give it to them for a few months, but I'm excited to hand it off to its owner and see how it evolves over the years. I put as much hard work and care into it as I possibly could, but the real magic happens when someone wears a hat and makes it their own!

-WNY Indy

[Canyon]

WNY Indy, awesome job on the hat! I especially love the last picture!

[Western New York Indy]

WNY Indy, awesome job on the hat! I especially love the last picture!

Thanks, Canyon! I'm glad you like that last photo. I was really happy with the side profile of this hat. Sometimes I think, for me at least, it's so easy to get focused on getting the perfect straight sidedness and/or reverse taper from the front that the side profile gets overlooked. But I think this hat performed well in regard to the side profile. I got pretty much what I wanted on the first try, and I didn't have to tweak it much, which was very satisfying

-WNY Indy