Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

[Darrell2688]

My 'sweet spot' for brim binding ribbon is 6 or 7 ligne. I have some 4 ligne from Art and it is vexing to work with. The 9 or 12 ligne is also more difficult to work with so I try really hard to steer my clients to the 6 or 7.

I had to do a little research to figure out what width size ribbon binding 7 ligne was, it is about .60 inches width, a little over 1/2" width, that width of binding is perfect for brim binding, of course that is my opinion on brim binding, I am not real fond of wider brim binding. I have a bit of trouble getting the binding the right length. When I put the binding on the brown hat, I cut the ribbon to the exact length and stitched it together, then had to shorten it to get the right tension on the binding.

 

[Darrell2688]

I have watched a video of Hornskov using his sewing machine to sew the brim binding. Would not have the patience to sew them by hand. Hornskov has a separate machine of course to sew the leather sweats into the hat. I would say that if you want to be efficient enough to make a living as a hatter a sewing machine to sew the sweats in place is a must. I am content to sew them in by hand as I cannot justify the $5k expense.

I have an opportunity to buy some aluminum plates from a hatter here in my city for a good price. I have not measured the thickness but they are heavy and I would estimate 3/8" thick plate.

$5K for a sewing machine to sew sweatbands into hats, well it looks like I will be sewing by hand for a long time, maybe I will invest in a thimble, I need to protect my fingers somehow.

Aluminum plates 3/8" thick would give you a good surface to iron on. What diameter are the plates?

 

[Darrell2688]

Tonight I complete the restoration of all my vintage flanges and blocks. I made the mistake of filling in some of the nicks/gouges in some of my flanges & blocks. The problem is once started it is very very hard for me to decide when enough is enough.......I kept finding ever smaller dings & fissures to fill. Finally they are all complete with 4 coats of sealer. It just took me 10 days to do it!

Hell they might be good for another 100 years now.

I have about 4 flanges and I only use 1 of them, the others are in storage lying flat on a shelf. Some of them need some sort of repair, one of the flanges is for a small hat size, I think it is a size 6.5 and from the looks, I am guessing a bowler style hat. What do you coat your flanges with after you make repairs?

 

[belfastboy]

$5K for a sewing machine to sew sweatbands into hats, well it looks like I will be sewing by hand for a long time, maybe I will invest in a thimble, I need to protect my fingers somehow.

Aluminum plates 3/8" thick would give you a good surface to iron on. What diameter are the plates?

These are aluminum brim press plates. He has 8 of them for sale, 1 solid base plate and 7 with holes cut for each brim size 6 7/8" up to 7 5/8". The only draw back for me is they are sized to a max brim width of 2 3/4" and I would like 3". But I can get them for 1/2 price........

 

[belfastboy]

I had to do a little research to figure out what width size ribbon binding 7 ligne was, it is about .60 inches width, a little over 1/2" width, that width of binding is perfect for brim binding, of course that is my opinion on brim binding, I am not real fond of wider brim binding. I have a bit of trouble getting the binding the right length. When I put the binding on the brown hat, I cut the ribbon to the exact length and stitched it together, then had to shorten it to get the right tension on the binding.

I bought the 6 ligne from Art and the 7 ligne from Stephen from Leon Drexler.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

I have watched a couple of Hornskov videos, I enjoyed watching his work, however I had to stop when he started cutting holes in a hat that he had just finished, then setting it on fire. Doesn't Hornskov use a sewing machine for all of his hat work? I will have to watch some more videos, hand sewing the brim binding is easier than sewing a leather sweatband, spacing the stitches and getting the right tension on the brim binding is a bit of work.
The aluminum disc that I have were given to my wife about 5 years ago by one of our neighbors that was throwing stuff away after an auction. We had them stored in our back shed for years and I decided to use them to work on hats. I wish that the disc was a little thicker. What is the thickness of the aluminum plates that you use?

Hornskov I do believe uses machines but Hufvud does not and he hand sews everything.

The aluminum disk plates that I have are 1/8" inch and work great with my plating machine, basically, it has two thicker aluminum plates that sandwich the thin plate with the hat body inside. It is heated too so it presses and irons at the same time.

JW Hats sells plates too and they are substantially thicker, probably in the 3/8" to 1/2" range.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

$5K for a sewing machine to sew sweatbands into hats, well it looks like I will be sewing by hand for a long time, maybe I will invest in a thimble, I need to protect my fingers somehow.

I am content to sew them in by hand as I cannot justify the $5k expense.

Gentlement, $5K should be the cost for two sewing machines. For that price, you should be able to get a Sweatband sewing machine and a brim binding sewing machine.

For my ASM 1107-1 and my Singer 108w20 just for the two machines, I paid $3K but maybe scarcity and inflation have raised them to $5K. However, having custom-made attachments will cost you quite a bit of money too.

 

[belfastboy]

Gentlement, $5K should be the cost for two sewing machines. For that price, you should be able to get a Sweatband sewing machine and a brim binding sewing machine.

For my ASM 1107-1 and my Singer 108w20 just for the two machines, I paid $3K but maybe scarcity and inflation have raised them to $5K. However, having custom-made attachments will cost you quite a bit of money too.

That $5k is in Canadian funds. A fellow hatter here in Vancouver bought one and by the time he got it here with freight and taxes it was damn close to the $5k. I use an ordinary sewing machine to do the bindings so avoided a big expense there.

 

[belfastboy]

Placed an order today with a fellow here in my city for a few new blocks and flanges. His plan is to cut the items using state of the CNC machinery and if all goes well will go into production. He is also a fellow hatter so he is familiar with the items. Could be a great new source for hatters.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Placed an order today with a fellow here in my city for a few new blocks and flanges. His plan is to cut the items using state of the CNC machinery and if all goes well will go into production. He is also a fellow hatter so he is familiar with the items. Could be a great new source for hatters.

Are these wood blocks and flanges?

 

[belfastboy]

Are these wood blocks and flanges?

Yes, I should have made that clearer. He is using clear poplar wood, nice grain, no knots at all.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

I finally decided to set aside some time to dedicate to learning a newsboy-style hat. Right now I have only completed the shell on this Peaky Blinders "Shelby" hat.

Take a look at my first attempt so far. My top stitching got a little wonky in a couple of places but most of the time it really came together, especially at the top of the crown it all nearly lined up. So much so that it might not need to have a button placed there.

I did add black fusible interfacing to give it more body and structure.

This project is now on hold as I wait for the brim inserts to be delivered, and I need to find some satin fabric that I want to use for the liner, and finally, I will send some of the fabric out to a company that is going to make me some sample buttons before I commit to buying button shells and a die cutter from them. This is the same company that provides me with the button shells that I use for wind trolleys.

The fabric is just some heavy upholstery fabric, much cheaper than getting Irish tweed and it lets me get proficient before splurging for the expensive tweed later.

The pattern came from an Etsy seller who has only installed elastic sweatbands but I am going to modify one of the sweatbands that I would put in a dress hat and see how it turns out. I think I am making this in the correct size such that it will fit me when done but I am not 100% certain of that just yet.

Let me know what you think so far.

 

[belfastboy]

I finally decided to set aside some time to dedicate to learning a newsboy-style hat. Right now I have only completed the shell on this Peaky Blinders "Shelby" hat.

Take a look at my first attempt so far. My top stitching got a little wonky in a couple of places but most of the time it really came together, especially at the top of the crown it all nearly lined up. So much so that it might not need to have a button placed there.

View attachment 437679 View attachment 437680 View attachment 437681 View attachment 437682

I did add black fusible interfacing to give it more body and structure.

This project is now on hold as I wait for the brim inserts to be delivered, and I need to find some satin fabric that I want to use for the liner, and finally, I will send some of the fabric out to a company that is going to make me some sample buttons before I commit to buying button shells and a die cutter from them. This is the same company that provides me with the button shells that I use for wind trolleys.

The fabric is just some heavy upholstery fabric, much cheaper than getting Irish tweed and it lets me get proficient before splurging for the expensive tweed later.

The pattern came from an Etsy seller who has only installed elastic sweatbands but I am going to modify one of the sweatbands that I would put in a dress hat and see how it turns out. I think I am making this in the correct size such that it will fit me when done but I am not 100% certain of that just yet.

Let me know what you think so far.

Great work! My favourite custom Newsboy maker AmiCharnel uses thick leather as inserts for his brims. I really like them as they have substance but are not stiff like the plastics that many use. He also uses leather for his sweats but not a reeded fedora like sweat....really just a strip of leather but far preferable to the cloth ones. Good Harris tweed is not that expensive if you can find a source that sells bolt ends. I picked up a bunch and sent them to AmiCharnel and had him make them up for me.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

Great work! My favourite custom Newsboy maker AmiCharnel uses thick leather as inserts for his brims. I really like them as they have substance but are not stiff like the plastics that many use. He also uses leather for his sweats but not a reeded fedora like sweat....really just a strip of leather but far preferable to the cloth ones. Good Harris tweed is not that expensive if you can find a source that sells bolt ends. I picked up a bunch and sent them to AmiCharnel and had him make them up for me.

Oooooh, thick leather for inserts. That sounds like a brilliant idea. Probably just using some inexpensive veg tanned tooling leather. Something for me to consider.

 

[belfastboy]

Oooooh, thick leather for inserts. That sounds like a brilliant idea. Probably just using some inexpensive veg tanned tooling leather. Something for me to consider.

Yes, he is out of business but his website might still be up and I think he mentions what he uses for inserts. I love them

 

[Darrell2688]

I have been working on a few things, I finished up the sweatband all except the little bow in the back, black bow for this sweatband. I have been waiting on some ribbon that I ordered and hat bows.
I made a flange stand out of a 2"x12"x24" and used a 5/16" dowel rod for the pins. I have been moving really slow with this hat, summertime and I have 4 acres to move every week, plus working on or making hat tools.

 

[belfastboy]

I picked up my Ukraine 100% beaver dress weight felts this morning. He brought in a limited colour selection but damn they are nice felts. Deep rich colours and the 160gr is substantial. I have worked with 180 gr & 200gr and find them very stiff and hard to work with. But these 160gr are very nice.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I picked up my Ukraine 100% beaver dress weight felts this morning. He brought in a limited colour selection but damn they are nice felts. Deep rich colours and the 160gr is substantial. I have worked with 180 gr & 200gr and find them very stiff and hard to work with. But these 160gr are very nice.

Are the 160g felts big enough to be made into my size and proportions?

 

[belfastboy]

I just went to the Millinery Whse website and saw he is SOLD OUT of all of his beaver felts ....both 160 & 200gr. Damn, that was quick.

 

[belfastboy]

Are the 160g felts big enough to be made into my size and proportions?

I think so. I am guessing we could do 6" crown and a 2 3/4" brim....or combos close to that. ...5 3/4' & 3". I have Pecan, Natural and Olive (which is like the Winchester Dark Moss)