Shrinking Fedora Down a Size?

Ghos7a55assin · Post by **Ghos7a55assin** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 7:29 pm

My akubra federation is a little bit loose on my noggin. Is there anyway to shrink it down a size for a snugger fit? I don't wanna go losing my hat.

Ray

Trevelyan · Post by **Trevelyan** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:01 pm

As I understand, all new Akubras come with adhesive backed foam strips for this purpose. The strips can be placed underneath the sweatband where needed to create a snugger fit. I'm sure you could rig up something like this by going to a fabric store and gettting something similar.

Dakota Ellison · Post by **Dakota Ellison** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:08 pm

The lampshade trick.

Ghos7a55assin · Post by **Ghos7a55assin** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:12 pm

I'm using the tape, but when I wear the hat for a while, the foam starts to compress, kinda like when you have a piece of furniture on a carpet, and when you take the furniture theres an indentation in the carpet from where the leg of the chair was.
I've heard the lampshade trick mentioned. Can you give any details of it?

Bounty Hunter · Post by **Bounty Hunter** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:41 pm

Fedora told me a while back about the lampshade trick, as I remember he said to flip out the sweat band, wet it, place a paper towel or similar inside the hat to keep from melting the satin or any plastic inside (especially in your Akubra) and let it sit on top of the lampshade for 10 min periods until its the size you want. When you get the size you want, wear the hat for a while until the band is dry. I believe it will shrink no more than 1/4 size down, could be wrong about that though. Also, I think it was mentioned not to use any more than a 60 watt bulb, or it could be to intense for the hat.
Cheers,
Dylan

Ghos7a55assin · Post by **Ghos7a55assin** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:48 pm

Sounds kinda dodgy...may not wanna take the risk of melting my liner, or even the fur...

ray

Swindiana · Post by **Swindiana** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:51 pm

My Akubra regular was a bit on the large side when it arrived but I didn't bother with the foam to make it fit. (I ordered it a size up to be certain it wouldn't be too small.) From previous experience with another type of headwear with a leather sweatband I just lightly dabbed it with water (the way it was, on the side closest to your head) and then wore it, dabbed it with water on my finger again and wore it again for an hour. This I repeated for a while during the day and the hat has completley adapted to the shape of my head... At least the sweatband has or it would look like a beanie.

This is what worked for me and I'm sure you'll find a way to make it adapt to your head too. Good luck!

Regards,
Swindiana

Trevelyan · Post by **Trevelyan** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:56 pm

If it's not that old, you might want to try just wearing it very often. You might have been doing this already, but I know my Fed fits tighter now than when I first got it. I wore it often while shoveling snow and then I wore it a few times while at the beach. I think when the sweat band gets wet on your noggin, it sort of molds to your head.

Ghos7a55assin · Post by **Ghos7a55assin** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:34 pm

I've worn it almost daily for close to 2 months...I think it shrinks, but as I wear it more, it seems to stretch back out again. It stretches to the point where the bottom of the center dent touches my head, but when I put it on, it barely touched my hair.

3thoubucks · Post by **3thoubucks** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 2:26 am

I think there might have been a stitch near the base of the crown in the Raiders hat which bunched the felt and tightened the fit, I believe it also left that channel that goes under the ribbon in the front dent. You can see the stitch in my hat here- http://brokenheartsfixedhere.homestead. ... sTurn.htmlTurning your hat will tighten the fit too.

Renderking Fisk · Post by **Renderking Fisk** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 10:47 am

I'm not sure you want to expose the fedora to too much heat. If you shrink the bottom, you might shrink the top of the crown and taper the lid too much.

Swindiana · Post by **Swindiana** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:42 pm

Ï got this message via ICQ:

Hello, My uncle ask me to contact you with the following message:

A gentleman on Cow ask about how to shrink a hat a single size smaller. I can help teach him how to do so in a few mintues nd not harm the hat. If he cares to email me at xxx@xxx.xxx I will gladly help him out.

I guess this one is meant for Ghos7a55assin. So, PM coming your way with the address and then you can decide if you want to make a post out of it.

Regards,
Swindiana

SHARPETOYS · Post by **SHARPETOYS** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 1:27 pm

If all the above doesn't work sell it here and order a smaller hat. Here is a link to Akubra hat care and other info on there hats.
http://www.akubra.com/

zohar · Post by **zohar** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 2:29 pm

He already wears a size 55, which is the smallest Fed you can get. I say just wear it and you'll grow into it.

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 2:30 pm

The Akubra sweatbands will shrink to fit your head size. I am told, that is one reason the hats seems to run large for a given hat size. The lampshade tricks works very well on the Akubras. If you are afraid to use this method(tried and true) use the foam strips. I refuse to use the strips. They make for an ugly sweat with all of the crinkles and such. You will find out either way, that as you wear and sweat in this hat, it will shrink to fit in a little while anyways. The heat and moisture used in the lampshade technique just speeds up the inevitable. Fedora

Ghos7a55assin · Post by **Ghos7a55assin** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 10:32 am

Ok, well ###### gave me a couple of tips.
These two are to make the sweatband smaller:
1. is you just turn the sweat band inside out and remove the cute lil bowtie and remove the stitches that holds the sweat together and trim off a smidgen from each side of the sweat band then and just hand stitch it back together. re attach the bowtie and your are done.
2. remove the outer ribbon and then the entire sweat band and do same as above and then sew all back in and reassemble hat.
And this is how to shrink it alot more.

Now lets assume it has to be shrunk even a bit more. If you have to shrink the hat a full size you will still have far too much sweat band left over and it will need to be trimmed off and hat reassembled BUT . If it is a Split cowhide sweat as I believe it to probably be you can again flop it our of the hat -- Inside out -- not removing any thing. and then suspend the entire sweat band and the first inch of the hat is self in very hot water. I would advise a steam method but if you are not careful the steam will give that undesired taper in a hurry.

Now soaking the sweat in hot water until it is truly soaked and changing the water so it remains hot until thoroughly saturated is the idea. This goes back to an Apache Indian trick of torturing people with a wet rawhide around the head buried in desert sand till it literally dried and "popped" their eyes out.

Here again now caution is advised. But after you get the sweat and first inch or so of hat thoroughly soaked you simply allow it to dry .. If you can cut out a piece of wood or Foam insulation board or any thing else the size and or shape of your head and insert it in to hat while shrinking it will insure not shrinking too much.

Finally with or with out that core insert you need to Use a large "Wire tie" like is used in heating and air conditioning companies and start to pull the hat down to your desired size and realize it is a single pull your are going to give it and may result in an initial wrinkle in the felt and sweat but this can easily be worked out later.

If you do not choose to buy a large wire tie or a bag of small ones put together or do not have such available a simple rope or limber wire will do fine. if using a wire or rope just make a loop in one end and insert other end through it and leave the loop where your bow of the ribbon will go back at . then pull it till it is a bit smaller than desired and watch it as it dries releasing it a bit as it is almost dry. if you cannot pull it enough then get a stick and make a tourniquet type twister stick in the loop of rope and tighten it this way. Again do not concern for the wrinkle at this point as it can be repaired easily by smoothing it out by hand later after dry and wetting only that area.

Thanks for all the help guys. I actually just left my federation in a relatively warm car (yes, these New York City nights are very warm!) and when I put the hat on again, it seemed to fit a big snugger. Thanks everyone!

Ray

parsa · Post by **parsa** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 1:21 pm

Lampshade method...? Sounds more like the Easy Bake Oven method.

Ghos7a55assin · Post by **Ghos7a55assin** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 1:58 pm

Haha....my sister had one of those! (the easy bake ovens)

On the down side of leaving the fedora in the car- I think it has developed a taper!!! AHH!!! Does anyone have a hat block my size??
Do you think anyone can reblock my hat and get it back to me by July 1st?

News- I found out that the fur store in my town does reblock hats. I'm not sure how much that the person I was on the phone with knew about fur felt hats (she had to ask the shop owner if he reblocked them), but let's hope they have a block for me!

SHARPETOYS · Post by **SHARPETOYS** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 2:32 pm

Ok, well ###### gave me a couple of tips.

Oh! well he's there he's here. Nice to know your hat fits better

Ghos7a55assin · Post by **Ghos7a55assin** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 6:04 pm

Or perhaps the fedora fit better because of my hair? I just got a haircut, and nows its loose again.....darn.
For the lampshade method, do you use a wet paper towel to cover the liner? Or just a dry one?

Jack Flanders · Post by **Jack Flanders** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 6:09 pm

Fedora wrote:The Akubra sweatbands will shrink to fit your head size. I am told, that is one reason the hats seems to run large for a given hat size....I refuse to use the strips....The heat and moisture used in the lampshade technique just speeds up the inevitable.

I'd rather not use the strips either. But my Akubra basic fed is new and I needed to size it down less than 1/2 of a size. When you say 'sweatband' you're talkign about the leaher thingy, right?

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 6:24 pm

Correct.
Regards! Michaelson

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 7:36 pm

Jack Flanders wrote:I'd rather not use the strips either. But my Akubra basic fed is new and I needed to size it down less than 1/2 of a size. When you say 'sweatband' you're talkign about the leaher thingy, right?

Jack, here is a trick I use with my AB. I use two pieces of folded paper towel, a thin piece and a thicked piece. Now depending on how long my hair is and what I'm doing, I may need both pieces, just one or none. The piece or peices that I don't need I tuck into the liner. They are out of the way, but when I need them I can just tuck them in behind the sweatband to adjust how the hat fits. I know this sounds strange, but it allows me to custom fit my hat for any given situation. I use my hat mostly while hiking. Once I start sweating the hat tends to stretch a bit. Enough that on rough ground it starts to slide down on my head. So then I'll use a piece or two of the afore mentioned paper towels. Once the day is done and the sweatband dries out it skinks a bit and I take the paper towels out and tuck them back into the liner. Like I said before it souds nuts, but it alows me to keep my hat comfy all of the time.

Doh · Post by **Doh** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 4:25 am

I know nothing about Akubras, but you'll probably grow into it. In college, I took a 7 1/4 hat size; now I'm a 7 1/2, depending on maker -- and I keep my hair relatively short.

Your options seem to be get another, smaller hat and hang onto this one until you grow into it, or use some sort of padding.

Either way, good luck!