pls advise: Home made campaign hat / Montana crease

[Hercule]

My son (3rd grade) is giving a presentation on Monday about the US Capitol. He wants to dress up as a Park Service tour guide. So I want to improvise an appropriate hat for him.

I picked up a cheap brown fedora from a costume shop and will iron the brim flat, steam it and pop out the crown. Any advice or insight as to properly (easily) forming a Montana crease?

I was thinking of gluing a cross of sturdy 1/2 inch strips of card board in the crown to give good definition to the North-South East-West creases.

 

[Picard1138]

Hercule, you will need to use felt stiffener spray for the "DI" and park ranger look. If it's a wool felt, best of luck reshaping the crown. If you have a surplus store or an Army base in town, I would suggest trying to find a drill instructor hat.

-Max

 

[jhe888]

There are always surplus Ranger/Trooper hats on sale on eBay, and sometimes they go pretty cheap. Stratton is the maker.

I'm not sure what luck you will have making a cheap costume hat hold that shape.

 

[Hercule]

I have complete faith the costume hat I bought will adapt as intended and serve it's purpose.

So nobody has any experience creating that bash?

 

[jhe888]

Steam it to an open crown, and start making the four dents with more steam. Just like any crease. If it will hold, it won't need any structure inside. Remember, the "cross" goes front to back and side to side for the Park Service. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have a dent to the front.

 

[RBH]

If its a wool hat I would not use any steam.
Try and shape it without anything first.
If it takes the shape then spray it with stiffener.
Also spray the stiffener on the inside of the hat crown.

If it does not shape easy... wet the crown lightly and then shape... let dry and then spray.
Hair spray works good as a stiffener also. Certain kinds are better than others.
Good luck!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

When I was a Drill Sgt...every few days I would flatten and straighten the brim on my hat..spray it with hair spray and place it on a lamp shade in my cadre room.
HD

 

[John Galt]

I would imagine the crown of a typical fedora is rather short for such a project. I would try a cowboy hat from a thrift shop, which will give you more to work with. The creasing instructions given above are in line with what I would do, except that I wet _and_ steam. The water softens the felt pretty good with no heat on most hats, but the heat helps the fibers curl & lock into shape. I often steam after creasing a damp hat into the shape I want, to make it "remember" the new crease & "forget" the old one.

Also, note that the best time to do the fine touches is when the hat is "middle-wet," for lack of a better term. That's when the texture is most like clay and will hold the shape easily for things like a rounded curl, etc.


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[1961MJS]

Hi John

I agree with your ideas, but the hat is WOOL, which shrinks when wet.

Later

 

[Grizzly Adams]

I have done this. Spray it down, and let it "set" a bit. Center things up and pinch in the "cross." Nothing to it.

 

[John Galt]

Hi John

I agree with your ideas, but the hat is WOOL, which shrinks when wet.

Later

Hmm.

I have neither a snappy response, nor sufficient experience with wool hats (as opposed to fur felts) to challenge your assertion. I assume that you are correct that the hat will shrink if wet/steamed.

I'd probably still proceed as indicated if it were me though, because wool fibers are similar to fur felt. The water will also make it pliable (although less so) and the steam will also make the fibers curl and lock the tiny barbs on each fiber to the others around it just as it will fur felt.

If I had no hat stretcher to prevent excessive shrinking (I do) I would wear the hat until dry. It doesn't take that long at 98.6, 3-4 hrs usually gets it there for me.

Nutria also seems to shrink more than other fur felts, and I've had success using this method with it.

Also, as noted, I would try this with a cowboy hat (which would probably be fur felt) rather than a typical fedora because the crown would be higher.

That all I've got. Best of luck!!!


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[1961MJS]

Hi
I own a What Price Glory wool bush hat that I can't wear because it was soaked. I shrunk a lot when it dried, but mainly in the crown. The sweat and stayed ok.

I would hesitate to steam much as heat and water shrink wool clothing. I haven't steamed wool hats much. I only owned two.

I agree with your idea that a cowboy hat would be easier to deal with.

Later

 

[RBH]

For a 3rd grader to do a presentation for tomorrow... a reshaped cheap wool fedora should do just fine.
As I stated I would stay away from heat and use as little water as possible. It is the repeated soakings that misshape hats.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

What Rusty said, and when you steam the hat to shape it (or wet it) put it on the kid's head and let it dry / cool down. At least that way it will fit his head. For a one day use, you should be o.k.

Later

 

[Hercule]

Final update: See photos for final product. Wasn't able to completely steam out the fedora bash so it remained a bit wrinkly, but I still managed to open out the crown. Forming the Montana crease was not at all fun as it had a tendency to form off center with regard to the brim shape. I ended up gluing a cardboard cross inside the crown to help form and align the creases and used a heavy cardboard form at the base of the crown to help gauge the base of the dents. I was afraid to work the felt too much as it was so thin I didn't want to put a hole in it. Once formed and dry I sprayed liberally inside and out with stiffener to hold the bash. I actually didn't do a thing to the brim. There was absolutely no appreciable shrinkage - I know some of you will find that hard to believe but get over it, wool isn't as evil as you think it is!. In the end the crown in my opinion was a bit high. I suppose that could have been tempered by making the dents shorter and distributing the proportions better. Oh well, next time.

I'm actually quite pleased with the result, especially with the overall effect.

Thank you to those who actually read my post detailing time and material constraints, and who made practical suggestions and offered encouragement.

 

[Eric P]

I think it came out quite well for the intended purpose, He looks good in the uniform.

 

[Hercule]

I think it came out quite well for the intended purpose, He looks good in the uniform.

Thank you. Making costumes for him has always been fun. You should have seen the Mariachi costume!

For the full effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkUfd_lHgYg