Question for you hat makers!

[spencerkaff]

Hey, thanks for coming. I recently purchased a couple of fur felt bodies online from hatsupply.com, and made my own hat block. I was pretty much following the "Hat Making Tutorial" thread.
Anyway, onto the question...
The felt bodies I got were a wee bit smaller than I thought, (that's what I get for hitting the sale page!). I steamed and pulled the felt over my block 5 or 6 times, and I still can't seem to get it pulled enough; well, the brim isn't wide enough. Do you guys have any ideas of what to do? I was going to try to steam and pull again later, but is soaking the felt and then pulling it option? Should I just get a larger felt body?
Thanks for your help in advance!

[BendingOak]

The bodies you got are to small it sounds to me. If you thinking Indy hat I'm sure its to small. Getting them soaked will make it easier to stretch on the block but they are goo g to shrink even more.


I always get my bodies bigger then needed.

Can you post photos of your felt body on and off your block.

[spencerkaff]

Well, I can't say I wasn't expecting that. Thanks for your help!
Hopefully I'll be posting some photos in the near future of another hat that I can make into an Indy hat!

[BendingOak]

Just saw your Facebook posting. If thats your block. You are not going to get a indy hat out of it. It is way too straight sighted and flat on top.

[spencerkaff]

Yup. After looking through the threads on blocks again, it looks like I've got a lot more work to do...

[Mark Brody]

Since I made that thread, I've built a new tool to help me stretch the felt over the block. It's just two pieces of particle board with the hat sized hole held together by 4 wingnuts and bolts. If you stick the felt between the boards, it holds on tight enough, and gives you a better grip to pull the felt down over the block. Obviously, there is a point where the felt body is simply too small to stretch over the block, but even the right size body will be a tight fit. Hope this helps.

[Indiana Bugs]

Nice idea. With all that leverage, though, one just has to be careful of tearing the hat at the brim break.

[Mark Brody]

Absolutely. It could give you the capacity for too much leverage, so you stil need to try to stretch the felt out from the top down, and not just yank it over the block.

[spencerkaff]

That's a good idea for helping with that problem. The brown felt body I bought was indeed too small, but I also got a grey one that was bigger, and fixed my hat block. So far, it's coming along quite well. Thanks for the awesome tutorial, Mark!