Hat making?? Learning Millinery..

[deadlyhandsome]

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)

Gannon told me a couple months ago that he had a Winchester dark moss that was big enough for me so that’s coming this fall. The pecan is interesting as all I have in that color is a Phoenix.

 

[belfastboy]

Gannon told me a couple months ago that he had a Winchester dark moss that was big enough for me so that’s coming this fall. The pecan is interesting as all I have in that color is a Phoenix.

I have two hats in the Winchester Dark Moss, it is a great colour.

 

[Darrell2688]

I am still working on the grey hat, today I put it in the flange and worked on shaping the brim. I have decided that I won't be sewing any more sweatbands from start to finish, it takes too long and getting everything lined up properly and keeping lined up while hand sewing the reeding tape and reed to leather is just too much, by the time I am finished I see double and that is not good when working on hats. Here are two photos of my recent work. These photos are before I started steaming the brim and covering it with a lint free muslin cloth. The open crown is 6" and the brim is 2 5/8", so there is plenty of material to bash in the crown, maybe try my hand at a teardrop crown.
Making this hat has been a real learning process, and a couple of people on this forum have been a great help, one of the people that help me deal with problems is BB. I was dealing with wrinkles a lot and for some reason I had a couple of hard spots that developed in the felt from an accumulation of felt stiffener, I don't know what caused it, but I do know how to fix it and the wrinkles if I have the same problem in the future. There are no hard spots in this hat now, it is smooth, soft feeling and the brim has a nice snap to it. Now all I need to do is finish this hat. I still need to make the hat band, put the liner in it and then bash it, I like the tight pinched front and the single crease across the top of the crown. Any way a Big Thank You BB for all of your help with this hat and my previous hat projects and a Thank You to the other people that helped me with my hats. The Fedora Lounge is a great source of information for anyone wanting to learn how to make hats, all you have to do is ask.

 

[belfastboy]

Tim Mahovich, Tim@purebeaver has just announced his agreement with with FEPSA to be their exclusive stocking distributor for North America. He has commitments and a delivery schedule from FEPSA that will provide a steady supply of their wonderful, top quality felts.

If you are looking for a one stop shop for all your hatting needs then check out @purebeaver on Instagram.

I have used a few of the 100% beaver, 95gram felts and they are superb. These felts replicate the look and feel of vintage. Soft yet with a firmness to the felt. I can almost blow the centre dent crease into the hat with my breathe and the crease holds without the use of steam.

Time has come a long way since his startup days as a hatter here in The Lounge.

Tim is also offering complete startup packages for newbie hatters. Fully comprehensive: training, supplies, equipment and branding are all now available. Contact Tim on Instagram or Text him 570.570.9258 for details.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Tim Mahovich, Tim@purebeaver has just announced his agreement with with FEPSA to be their exclusive stocking distributor for North America. He has commitments and a delivery schedule from FEPSA that will provide a steady supply of their wonderful, top quality felts.

If you are looking for a one stop shop for all your hatting needs then check out @purebeaver on Instagram.

I have used a few of the 100% beaver, 95gram felts and they are superb. These felts replicate the look and feel of vintage. Soft yet with a firmness to the felt. I can almost blow the centre dent crease into the hat with my breathe and the crease holds without the use of steam.

Time has come a long way since his startup days as a hatter here in The Lounge.

Tim is also offering complete startup packages for newbie hatters. Fully comprehensive: training, supplies, equipment and branding are all now available. Contact Tim on Instagram or Text him 570.570.9258 for details.

I tried to contact Tim via social media and it’s going on a week without an answer.

 

[belfastboy]

I tried to contact Tim via social media and it’s going on a week without an answer.

Try texting him or he has another attached Instagram...@purebeavercustomerservice. He has an assistant that I have been able to contact via Instagram 'message'

 

[Darrell2688]

Well, I think that I am finished with my grey hat. I made this hat into a Fedora with a teardrop crown, the brim is 2 5/8" wide, the hat band if 1 1/2" wide French Grosgrain Midnight Navy, I was going to use the black Grosgrain ribbon, but this hat looked better with the Midnight Navy. Here are a few photos of my hat, still learning.

 

[Darrell2688]

Try texting him or he has another attached Instagram...@purebeavercustomerservice. He has an assistant that I have been able to contact via Instagram 'message'

I tried a search for Tim@purebeaver and found a web page, the fur felts look great, and I followed this link,
www.purebeaverhatsupply.com
trouble is you have to have an Instagram account.

 

[belfastboy]

I tried a search for Tim@purebeaver and found a web page, the fur felts look great, and I followed this link,
www.purebeaverhatsupply.com
trouble is you have to have an Instagram account.

He has yet to open his webpage so for now it is only via his Instagram account.

 

[belfastboy]

Completed Day 2 of my "Crafting a Fedora" workshop this afternoon. 5 women employed in the film industry wanted to add hat making to their skill set. My most ambitious class size yet but I figured it may be easier than my previous classes with men with zero sewing skills. I thought these women would possess sewing skills that would match mine and likely exceed my skills by a wide margin.

It has been great fun. Only one of the five came in knowing the style she wanted to make while the other 4 were at a loss. I suggested that they keep an open mind and the style would become more evident as they moved along.

We have done the heavy lifting and tomorrow is just final touches.

Five different styles were created, they all relaxed and had fun creating their hat. They added their creativity to the ribbon/bow work and will leave the workshop with a unique hat of their design crafted by their own hands.

It has been great fun. Tomorrow or Monday will post pictures of their work.

 

[belfastboy]

Completed Day 2 of my "Crafting a Fedora" workshop this afternoon. 5 women employed in the film industry wanted to add hat making to their skill set. My most ambitious class size yet but I figured it may be easier than my previous classes with men with zero sewing skills. I thought these women would possess sewing skills that would match mine and likely exceed my skills by a wide margin.

It has been great fun. Only one of the five came in knowing the style she wanted to make while the other 4 were at a loss. I suggested that they keep an open mind and the style would become more evident as they moved along.

We have done the heavy lifting and tomorrow is just final touches.

Five different styles were created, they all relaxed and had fun creating their hat. They added their creativity to the ribbon/bow work and will leave the workshop with a unique hat of their design crafted by their own hands.

It has been great fun. Tomorrow or Monday will post pictures of their work.

I neglected to mention the highlight of day ONE was the brim cutting. I get butterflies when I go to cut the brim so was borderline nauseous when they began. My strategy was to cut the brims wider than they wanted so we could have a second go of it in a worst case screw up. Well 4 of the 5 cut their brims perfectly. I attribute it to being a good teacher but that is just me!!!

The 5th and last one was too tentative and missed joining the beginning and the end of the cut so we had to use an Exacto knife to even it out. As bad luck would have it....this lady is the perfectionist in the group so she was most disappointed as she could see the flaw in neon. I set her about sanding it to even it out but she had this horrible grimace. I asked her to set it aside until the next day and we could just do another cut as we had lots of brim. She came in for day two and could not identify the area of her chagrin. All the other ladies were thrilled with their cut AND the wider brims so all chose to leave as is with the wider brims. Today is the easy day as all the heavy lifting is done. Final sewing of ribbon/bow and the liner, final cleanup and polishing and we are complete. Pics to follow.

 

[Darrell2688]

I think that we all get a bit nervous when cutting the brim down, I am always wondering if I am cutting the brim to much or not enough and if the blade is set to the right depth. I know how your fifth student feels, after all of the time and work that I put into my grey hat I am still not happy with it. Did all of the women make hats with wide brims? Waiting to see the results of the hat class, hopefully number five will be thrilled with her hat.

 

[belfastboy]

Here are some pictures. Crap pictures but that is just me. Took some others with a better phone camera but have not received them from the student yet. The woman in the middle and on the end right both put telescope bashes in the crown and did brilliant work. The woman second in from the right made a 2 1/2" brim fedora for her uncle. Crafted the ribbon out of my selection of vintage silk ties. The lady on the left made more of a Bohemian style hat without the distressing but a leather band, silver concho, and a horse hair band along with a collection of feathers, pheasant/peacock. She could not decide so I told her to take them all and change them out as the mood struck.

 

[Darrell2688]

Here are some pictures. Crap pictures but that is just me. Took some others with a better phone camera but have not received them from the student yet. The woman in the middle and on the end right both put telescope bashes in the crown and did brilliant work. The woman second in from the right made a 2 1/2" brim fedora for her uncle. Crafted the ribbon out of my selection of vintage silk ties. The lady on the left made more of a Bohemian style hat without the distressing but a leather band, silver concho, and a horse hair band along with a collection of feathers, pheasant/peacock. She could not decide so I told her to take them all and change them out as the mood struck.

All of the women in your class made some really nice hats, the telescope crown would be a challenge for me for sure, not sure that I would try that style. I am sure that you will have another classroom full of women for your next class.

 

[belfastboy]

All of the women in your class made some really nice hats, the telescope crown would be a challenge for me for sure, not sure that I would try that style. I am sure that you will have another classroom full of women for your next class.

If I owned a store front hat shop each one of those hats I would be pleased to display and sell. It was great fun as I just had to show them the how and then get the hell out of their way. The two ladies that did the telescope crowns....I showed them how in a general sense then left to help the lady do the pencil curl. I forgot about the telescope ladies and then noticed they were just sitting on their stools waiting. Thought , oh shit they are waiting for next step instruction. Nope, they were done. No clean up of the creasing, nothing....they were done!

 

[belfastboy]

One of the ladies from my hat class comes from Indonesia and she imports hand dyed batik fabric. Soooo, being the shopper that I am I have ordered a big swathe of material she will import for me to use as liner material.

 

[Darrell2688]

One of the ladies from my hat class comes from Indonesia and she imports hand dyed batik fabric. Soooo, being the shopper that I am I have ordered a big swathe of material she will import for me to use as liner material.

What type of material is that and how easy is it to work with?
I have been looking at material to make liners and I have found some silk material, but have not ordered it, because I have two sewing machines in the house and both need some technical work, I tried my hand at fixing one, did some good but still needs tech attention.

 

[belfastboy]

What type of material is that and how easy is it to work with?
I have been looking at material to make liners and I have found some silk material, but have not ordered it, because I have two sewing machines in the house and both need some technical work, I tried my hand at fixing one, did some good but still needs tech attention.

I used to have to pick material with enough substance to stand up as liner material. But my wife came up with the idea of fusing light backing so now we can use any material we want. Silk was problematic as it is so light, no stiffness to it or at least not enough for it to stand up on its own. But now it works perfectly and I buy vintage silk Kimono material. It is brilliant material. The Indonesian batik is 100% cotton. It is a bit pricey...for a 1 metre x 2 metre chunk it costs $120 but the patterns are intricate and beautiful......all hand printed/painted.

 

[belfastboy]

I just went to the Agnoulita site on ETSY to look for some Tonak felts. Mr Papa has zero felts listed. The last time I looked he was out of stock on many colours....now they are wholly delisted so perhaps he is saving his felts for his own hat making. I then went to the HNC Hat Works site and again no product listed under hat making supplies. Is this the first indication of a coming felt shortage?

 

[Darrell2688]

I just went to the Agnoulita site on ETSY to look for some Tonak felts. Mr Papa has zero felts listed. The last time I looked he was out of stock on many colours....now they are wholly delisted so perhaps he is saving his felts for his own hat making. I then went to the HNC Hat Works site and again no product listed under hat making supplies. Is this the first indication of a coming felt shortage?

I would say that there is a strong possibility that we will see a shortage in fur felts considering what Putin is doing in Europe. Putin is having a tantrum, so all of the neighboring countries have to suffer a bit and slow down on production.