Seeking Symmetry

[Ginseng]

I'm guessing I may not be the only one out there who takes pains to achieve a desired symmetry in the customization of my hats. This morning I was reworking my Akubra Fed IV Deluxe and I applied slim pieces of painter's tape to mark the centerline when the hat is resting properly on my head. Fire up the tea kettle then work on the front first, then on the back side lift.



Does anybody else use any special techniques to achieve their desired formation?

 

[hatsRme]

Super effort, Ginseng! I generally prefer a tilt to my hats, thereby concealing any minor asymmetry. I like perfection, but find that any OCD will relax enough to allow the "good enough is best" look for my felts. Not quite so much for straws, oddly enough.

Do my felts look off a bit?

 

[JoeyC]

I'm guessing I may not be the only one out there who takes pains to achieve a desired symmetry in the customization of my hats. This morning I was reworking my Akubra Fed IV Deluxe and I applied slim pieces of painter's tape to mark the centerline when the hat is resting properly on my head. Fire up the tea kettle then work on the front first, then on the back side lift.



Does anybody else use any special techniques to achieve their desired formation?

I generally will use a paper clip at the brim to find center while wearing the hat and then eyeball up to crown. Crease front to back. I find holding the hat centered under a light from above will show any imbalances when working the crown, shadows from side light can distort my view of the balance side to side. It's what works for me. I sometime will work a hat for days for short periods until I'm satisfied. Some hats I like to be symmetrical all over, others I like the crowns to be symmetrical while the brims slightly asymmetrical.

 

[LeBois46]

With all due respect, why are you seeking perfect symmetry? Perfect symmetry oft times indicates something artificial or without natural character. For instance, nobody's face and/or body is perfectly symmetrical. Another example is a bow tie. If you ever see a perfectly symmetrical bow tie, you know it has not been tied by the wearer. It could be a tie with a hook in the back or even worse, a clip on! Mon dieu.

Good luck.

 

[tommyK]

Looking good, Ginseng!
I start by getting as close as I can to what I want by hand then resort to a little steam to tighten up here and there. I'm with Charlie, I go for rough symmetry but it doesn't have to be perfect. In fact I like my hats to look very clearly shaped by hand.

 

[stratcat]

I like your effort and like you, I keep trying to get my Fed IV to be more symmetrical (it's always my grey not the brown).
My problem comes from the fact that where my mirror is only has natural lighting from one side. Add to that the fact that my nose is a bit lop sided and it makes it all a bit off centre, so I'm lightening up a bit and just wearing my hat, I don't care that much.
I'll say this quietly
it is only a hat
:eeek:

 

[se couvrir]

With all due respect, why are you seeking perfect symmetry? Perfect symmetry oft times indicates something artificial or without natural character. For instance, nobody's face and/or body is perfectly symmetrical. Another example is a bow tie. If you ever see a perfectly symmetrical bow tie, you know it has not been tied by the wearer. It could be a tie with a hook in the back or even worse, a clip on! Mon dieu.

+ 1
Chris

 

[Leacock]

With all due respect, why are you seeking perfect symmetry? Perfect symmetry oft times indicates something artificial or without natural character. For instance, nobody's face and/or body is perfectly symmetrical. Another example is a bow tie. If you ever see a perfectly symmetrical bow tie, you know it has not been tied by the wearer. It could be a tie with a hook in the back or even worse, a clip on! Mon dieu.

Good luck.

Symmetry is the sign of perfection.

 

[Ginseng]

hatsRme and tommyK,
I treat my other hats pretty much as you have recounted. In a more relaxed fashion.

JoeyC,
Right there with you, sir. I’ve been tinkering for a while now. Try something, wear it, try a tweak, and so on. I wonder if you have found that your work relaxes itself a bit in a day or so…as if the felt had a memory.

stratcat,
Curious that we’ve both been working on the Fed IV. There may be something to that hat that invites such an exploration…I think it’s the stiffness of the felt and the solidity of the design. It begs for “sculpting.”

LeBois46, se couvrir, and Leacock,
I’ll respond in the spirit of the question: why pursue balance, symmetry, perfection? Think of the process as meditation. As an exploration of the structural aspects of the design. It is both art and work. That perfect symmetry may never be achieved nor maintained is not the failure. Not getting to know a hat and how it works best and subtly with you is.

 

[JoeyC]

hatsRme and tommyK,
I treat my other hats pretty much as you have recounted. In a more relaxed fashion.

JoeyC,
Right there with you, sir. I’ve been tinkering for a while now. Try something, wear it, try a tweak, and so on. I wonder if you have found that your work relaxes itself a bit in a day or so…as if the felt had a memory.

stratcat,
Curious that we’ve both been working on the Fed IV. There may be something to that hat that invites such an exploration…I think it’s the stiffness of the felt and the solidity of the design. It begs for “sculpting.”

LeBois46, se couvrir, and Leacock,
I’ll respond in the spirit of the question: why pursue balance, symmetry, perfection? Think of the process as meditation. As an exploration of the structural aspects of the design. It is both art and work. That perfect symmetry may never be achieved nor maintained is not the failure. Not getting to know a hat and how it works best and subtly with you is.

I find that just about every time I lay the hat aside for a while I see something I hadn't noticed before. Small things, but I see them and then I go back, Yes, I guess it's memory so I correct it. Each hat has it's own quirks.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Some hats seem to have more desired character if they are not stone cold "perfect", but I also think it depends on the hat and what style of "bashing" you have given the hat!

 

[RJR]

+1 with LMM.

 

[Florida_Marlin]

My head is whop sided and makes any soft crowned hat a little wonky anyway. So, I usually don't worry about it! Just close enough is close enough for me.

 

[Ginseng]

Some hats seem to have more desired character if they are not stone cold "perfect", but I also think it depends on the hat and what style of "bashing" you have given the hat!

I completely agree. The Fed is my "engineer's" Fedora so favor precision, balance, and symmetry in its styling. My Biltmore Florence is my casual, rakish hat.

 

[tonyb]

Part of the appeal of open-crowned hats is that no two are quite the same.

Stamped-in-at-the-factory creases are indeed neater, generally, and there's something to be said for that. And shaped blocks (with tippers) are all but essential for straw hats.

But for most felt hats uniformity isn't all that desirable, leastwise not in my book. Like most hatters (I presume), I mark certain guideposts on the hat body -- the rear center, both at the crown opening and the brim edge, and the halfway point on the left side of the crown. I use a dry sliver of bar soap, which brushes off easily. And I typically use a ruler when crafting bows, so that the knot is in the middle, or at least close enough to it.

Many here can tell you that even mass-produced hats aren't necessarily all that symmetrical. The rear edge binding seam might be half a degree or so off center. The bow might be positioned a whisker forward or rearward. And 99 people out of 100 would never notice. I assume that in those cases where it IS noticeable, the hat ends up at the outlet store. We're not talking toasters here, or Toyotas.

And, as has already been noted, most of us have faces Picasso might find compelling. Could be that one's face would look more symmetrical if his hat isn't.

 

[Ginseng]

And, as has already been noted, most of us have faces Picasso might find compelling. Could be that one's face would look more symmetrical if his hat isn't.

Truly. Faces are rarely even close to symmetrical and surely neither is mine. I consider balance at the level of the face-hat whole. Since my face is pretty much the shape it's going to be, starting out with the hat as symmetric as possible let's me better set the direction for personalizing it.

 

[Bird Lives]

I like to be cool and think I don't really care....But with some hats it seems inevitable....I just can't leave it alone til I think it's right....I have a Borsalino that I always turn the brim up, push the crown open and side dents out whenever I hang it. When I put it on, whatever bash I put in it seems to work perfect from the git-go...But my Sandown Trilby wants to be perfect, I think maybe the trilby type snap brims want to be centered or they look off...or maybe because the Lock is stiffer it needs to be really centered...I don't know...But when it's right it looks great!

 

[Zombie_61]

...I like perfection, but find that any OCD will relax enough to allow the "good enough is best" look for my felts...

This is true for me as well. As long as the front pinch is reasonably centered over my nose when I'm wearing them, I don't overly concern myself with the crease or the shape of the brim. Besides, in order to get the pinch to line up with my nose it must be approximately 1/2" to the right (my right, that is) of the actual centerline of the hat, so perfect symmetry is not possible for me anyway; I just do my best to make the asymmetry as symmetrical as possible.

With regard to "special techniques", I put the hat on my head open crown, determine where the pinch should be (looking in a mirror), and push down on that spot on the top front of the crown to "mark" it, then take it off and give it a simple Center Dent along the approximate centerline from front to back, establishing the crown height at the front and back at the same time. Once that's done I expand the center dent into a rough Teardrop or C-Crown (whichever the hat seems to be more receptive to), form the side dents, then form the center "bump" inside the Teardrop/C-Crown. When I have it roughly dry-shaped to my liking, I spray the crown with distilled water and refine it.

As for the brim, I like my brims like I like my wife's physique--curvy. All four of my Akubra hats arrived with brims that were rather flat, but over the course of the first week or so developed varying degrees of brim curl/cupping on their own. So I wait a week or so to see how the brim will shape itself, then spray it with distilled water and coax it into a shape I find pleasing (which generally consists of snapping the front of the brim down more than it wants to on it's own). And that's it. Nothing ground-breaking; I'm not re-inventing the wheel here.

...The bow might be positioned a whisker forward or rearward...

On the one custom hat I have (so far) the bow is noticeably more rearward. It was a bit of a surprise, because I hadn't noticed it in the work-in-progress photos the hatter sent me. I could easily have informed him and sent the hat back, and I'm confident he would have had no problem "correcting" it. But I didn't because I like it--it makes the hat that much more unique, and enhances the hat's personality.

 

[gtdean48]

...
Does anybody else use any special techniques to achieve their desired formation?

I put a hat on, & take a paperclip or toothpick/match stick & place in the hatband ribbon where it lines up with my nose then go to creasing...