Too Big - Too Bad

[mooniteman]

So I got my Indy hat a year ago and it's a beautiful 7 1/8 Akubra Fed - I love everything about the color - the texture - the subtle shapes - its beautiful ! But I HATE the way it looks on my tiny little noggin. It just doesn't look right on my very - non- Harrison Ford proportioned head. So i've been contemplating getting a custom Hat that would fit my facial structure and yet emulate the Raiders style - just with more me appropriate proportions.

Here's some pics of my tiny noggin - and let me know if you have any suggestions:








And Adventurebuilt is out of the question - I just can't bloody afford one of those.

Thanks!

Moony

[DR Ulloa]

I agree. I think the dimensions are off for your face. If you want custom, try Penman. The wait times are still quite good and the price unbeatable.

Dave

[mooniteman]

hmm - link - i've been off the IndyGear forum for a while so I'm not up to date on new vendors.

[DR Ulloa]

BendingOak started up The Penman Hat Co. back in June of last year. All you need do is use the search function and you'll see all the great hats he's made. I have two and I love them. His hats are on par with Steve's hats in both material and craftsmanship. Customer service is top notch. His website is www.penmanhats.com . I would send him a pm here and see what he tells you.

Dave

[maboot38]

Reconstructive surgery should help you to fit the hat.

Just kidding. You look fine! Your head is just too small for that style hat. Maybe a hatmaker can scale one down for you. Just remember, these fedoras do seem "larger" than most.

[DR Ulloa]

Another idea would be to send your Federation off for a reblock and have the hatter shorten the crown height and brim width. It would be less expensive than buying a new hat and you would get to keep the hat you've grown to love.

Dave

[Indy35]

Reconstructive surgery should help you to fit the hat.

Just kidding. You look fine! Your head is just too small for that style hat. Maybe a hatmaker can scale one down for you. Just remember, these fedoras do seem "larger" than most.

I totally agree with this, the Indy hat is bashed and built larger than even a normal 20s and 30s style fedora. With your narrow face find somebody that might be able to trim the brim. My brother derek has a narrow face just like yours and he can't wear a hat with a brim bigger than about 2 1/4 inches, he gets away with the tall crown, but not the brim.

I'd just wear it anyway, if you like it wear it, but if you got the dough there's never anything wrong with getting a custom. Maybe one of our excellent hatmakers around here want a challenge, and they can tweak the hat you've got. Just an idea.

[Indiana G]

check out shane's (mc fly's) AB. he has facial/head structures that are difficult to tailor an indy hat to, and it took steve a couple of iterations to get her right........but how shane's hat looks on him now is just as good as how ford's AB sits on him.

i believe that the brim was trimmed down to suit the face, but i do not know what was done to the crown dimensions. hope that helps.

i'm talking about the hat in shane's avatar......send him a PM

[Chewbacca Jones]

Yeah, that hat does over-power you.
I have to agree with my fellows on two counts. Either look into (and price out) modifying your Fed, or look into Penman. He just announced prices in the Vendor section here for Rabbit fur felt, which will probably fit your budget. He currently has a 3 month wait time, and if you actually call him you will find he's great to work with.

[bigrex]

Yeah, Penman should be able to pull it off, you might look better with a more tapered looking hat, maybe also with a stingy brim? -But of course if you're looking for an Indy hat the changes would be more subtle in that direction. Perhaps, for an Indy hat just a shorter crown and shorter brim would do in lieu of the tapered look.

[The Librarian]

Well to get a truly proportional reduction you'd have to have a hatter re-block it. Remove the ribbon, liner and sweatband, place it on a block and create a shorter crown height, re-flange the brim and trim the excess. Then replace the ribbon, liner and sweatband.
I was playing with your pic in Photoshop. First pic is the original proportions.


Then I reduced just the hat to 92% of original size.

Then I reduced just the brim leaving the crown height and width alone.


I think the 2nd is best. When you just trim the brim the crown height is enhanced.


As for who to send it to, I'd trust it in John Penman's hands.

Marty

[BendingOak]

It would be a great help to have a pic or 2 that is taken by someone else so not to get distorted.

[mooniteman]

I guess I have 2 posts going on this hat now - lol - whoops and as I discovered 8% reduction seems to be the exact amount I need - in my other post I wrote this:

So I posted in the "Too Big - Too Bad" topic below the woes of having a tiny head and what I should do about my too-big Akubra. So I got to thinking about a custom and what it would take to make the hat look "right" for my tiny noggin. I had the idea of going into photoshop - taking a picture of me with my hat on and one of Indy - taking out different segments and matching them up to see mathematically what looks right on my head.

Heres what I did:

First I took a pic to Match the one of Harrison's below - I used the hat as a constant matching up our hats (even though they are angled slightly different) the matched up pretty well - But as you can see Harrison looks right and I look like an idiot.

Then I took the pic of my face and laid it over top of Indy's. Our faces matched when mine was made 8% larger.

So then I took the pic of my face and laid it under an untouched version of my hat (technially an 8% decrease for my hat) and well - these are the results.




So let me know what you think!

Is 8% really the slight difference it takes to make me mug look right?


AJ

[Chewbacca Jones]

I don't think manipulating the images will give you a true look at what you'd really have. Especially since the whole hat (or whole head) is a different size, not just crown height and brim width. If you reduce a size 7 1/2 hat by 8% and leave the head unchanged, you're looking at a size 7 hat on a size 7 1/2 head! All proportions will be off.

Like Oak says, have a friend take a few pics, don't do anything to them, and add pics without a hat on. A hatter can look at those and get a feel for what needs to change.

[BendingOak]

Part of the problem is the lack of turn. If it was a turned hat you would have to look up as much and you would see the humps at the top of the hat. Photo's taken from a from a few feet back would help out a great deal.

[Caber]

What are the diminsions of your hat?

[3thoubucks]

Mooniteman! It doesn't look that bad. Turn it 1/2 to 3/4 inch and you'll have less taper in the front view. It looks too tall. My Fed 4 looked too tall. I'd wet the felt at the brim break and iron the crown down into brim in front, and a little in back, which I think DNL did to the Raiders hat when she "lowered the crown", then trim a little off the brim.. If you detatch the sweat, you can lower the crown height 1/4 inch or more.

[jkdbuck76]

Another idea would be to send your Federation off for a reblock and have the hatter shorten the crown height and brim width. It would be less expensive than buying a new hat and you would get to keep the hat you've grown to love.

Dave

Yes. OP should PM BendingOak and ask about a reblock.

[Erri]

mooniteman, turn a part, if you cut down your brim a bit it will help with matching your face shape in my opinion. I have quite a thin face too and 3" brims (or thereabouts) always make my hat look giant. Also, try taking pictures from far.