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