What Hat Are You Working On Today?

[StoryPNW]

I’ve been working on my brim binding and I’m now at the stage where it’s consistently good. I can’t get good quality grosgrain here in the UK so use Petersham instead.

Brim looks awesome!

 

[RickP]

I’ve been working on my brim binding and I’m now at the stage where it’s consistently good. I can’t get good quality grosgrain here in the UK so use Petersham instead.

Nice stitching! are you doing by hand or machine? Brim binding / sewing is my next big learning experience. I just figured out how to use a smaller needle on my cylinder arm leather machine to sew in leather sweatbands...I felt like I owned the world when I finished the first one! lol

 

[BigHat]

Nice stitching! are you doing by hand or machine? Brim binding / sewing is my next big learning experience. I just figured out how to use a smaller needle on my cylinder arm leather machine to sew in leather sweatbands...I felt like I owned the world when I finished the first one! lol

Hi Rick. I used a sewing machine which has a start/stop button. It allows me to stitch at a very slow speed so I can concentrate on following the binding edge accurately. Yes it’s a great feeling when you nail another part of the hat making process.

 

[RickP]

Reworked free-to-me Stetson "Gus". Reblocked to get rid of the front crease and trimmed a full inch off the brim (now 3"). Seriously thinking of reducing the brim just a bit more. The panama band is temporary, but its growing on me


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Wore it around today and it still looked just a bit big...Got home and took another 1/2" off brim... now 2 1/2"... Im just NOT a cowboy lol

 

[GHT]

This made to measure blazer just needed the right hat to compliment it. Various colours sort of suited it but nothing gave it a lift. "Go red," Tina advised. I found the perfect red, only it was a trilby and being used to the fedora brim, I couldn't quite fall in love with it, even though it had quite a broad brim for a trilby.

"Give your hat people a call," Tina suggested. I was trying to watch the budget, but I know that bespoke is my best bet. The lady was right, of course.





The colour variation that you see is just the difference between a 35mm camera and a phone camera.

"What shall I do with the trilby?" I said, more out loud than directly to Tina. Adding, I could give it to that fellow at church." "Don't you dare," retorted the lady. "I know someone very close who could give that a good home."

The clever girl meant herself of course, here's what she did.



I told you that she was a clever girl. Do you want to see the result?

 

[RickP]

Had a nice Akubra Stockman that was a size too small, and a little too cowboyish. The pic with the braided band is the before picture. Did some reshaping, stretching (so now it fits closer to the ears) and replaced the western braided horsehair band with a ribbon. Still have some tinkering and tweaking to do but I think its feels and looks a bit better (at least in my opinion)

 

[RickP]

ITS STARTED! Day One of the conversion project. One cowboy hat on its way to being more of a city hat.

Started as a $26 4x Stetson 4" brim, 5 1/4" crown cowboy hat. Liner and sweat are in really nice shape. No tag inside so Im not really sure what model it started life as. Im guessing 1980's or 90's. Does have a union label on the back of the size tag.

I trimmed off some of the "cowboy" (took a full inch off the brim). Wore a bunch of bristles off my horsehair brush and got a bunch of dust removed. Taking it slow, so right now its now sitting at a 3" brim with just a little experimental steaming and shaping. Want to shape with a bit flatter brim side and do away with the little wings that want to stand up on the sides. BUT... I may go with a modest snap brim. Already looks way better. Looking more Open Road/ fedora-ish, and less Cowboy Bob. (No offense to Mr Bob)

The felt hatband is going away (Its an actual JBS buckle set so Ill try to recycle the hardware over to a nicer tooled leather band) and Im trying to decide on what size ribbon to replace it with. (maybe a 1-1/4 to 1- 1/2" ribbon and Bow, or a narrower Open Road size ribbon) Also thinking doing a bound brim would be nice... If I go narrow ribbon, Ill go narrow binding, (and MAY trim another 1/8" off the brim)or if I choose to go with a wider ribbon Ill prob do a wider "Whippet" size binding.

Its going to get a white gas bath soon to clean a few spots, so until thats done, Ive got some time to think about ribbon / binding size, and whether to leave brim as- is or trim just a hair more off. I already have a 2 7/8 brim Open Road, so im thinking I may opt for the slightly wider brim. (Most of my hats are 2-1/2 to 2-7/8 brims) Its got a bit of a tan hue so it wont be directly competing with the silver bellies on the wall lol. Ill REALLY try to decide exactly what I want before I start sewing thing on.

Im just hoping I can stay on track and finish this one before I start on the cheaper hat thats due in here soon ( An 80's $25 brown 3x Stetson with what looks like an ever so slightly lower crown.) Shiny things catch my eye and I get distracted easily so If I get two projects going at once I wont see my dining table again for a month.

I got the pics out of order, but I trust you fine gentle persons will figure out which is the "before" photo

 

[RickP]

Actually made a decision... Decided that I have enough hats with a swooping outback looking brim, so I went ahead and flanged it up for a moderate snap brim. Was lucky to have one flange big enough for a 3" brim. Did decide I DO actually like the 3" brim.... got enough shorter ones on the wall. Thats a good stopping point for the first day. Will see what the weather ( and the mosquito population) does in the morning. See if Im going to sit outside for a couple hours for some gas sloshing and cleaning tomorrow... then maybe some reblocking wednesday... Calling it progress

 

[Blare]

ITS STARTED! Day One of the conversion project. One cowboy hat on its way to being more of a city hat.

Started as a $26 4x Stetson 4" brim, 5 1/4" crown cowboy hat. Liner and sweat are in really nice shape. No tag inside so Im not really sure what model it started life as. Im guessing 1980's or 90's. Does have a union label on the back of the size tag.

I trimmed off some of the "cowboy" (took a full inch off the brim). Wore a bunch of bristles off my horsehair brush and got a bunch of dust removed. Taking it slow, so right now its now sitting at a 3" brim with just a little experimental steaming and shaping. Want to shape with a bit flatter brim side and do away with the little wings that want to stand up on the sides. BUT... I may go with a modest snap brim. Already looks way better. Looking more Open Road/ fedora-ish, and less Cowboy Bob. (No offense to Mr Bob)

The felt hatband is going away (Its an actual JBS buckle set so Ill try to recycle the hardware over to a nicer tooled leather band) and Im trying to decide on what size ribbon to replace it with. (maybe a 1-1/4 to 1- 1/2" ribbon and Bow, or a narrower Open Road size ribbon) Also thinking doing a bound brim would be nice... If I go narrow ribbon, Ill go narrow binding, (and MAY trim another 1/8" off the brim)or if I choose to go with a wider ribbon Ill prob do a wider "Whippet" size binding.

Its going to get a white gas bath soon to clean a few spots, so until thats done, Ive got some time to think about ribbon / binding size, and whether to leave brim as- is or trim just a hair more off. I already have a 2 7/8 brim Open Road, so im thinking I may opt for the slightly wider brim. (Most of my hats are 2-1/2 to 2-7/8 brims) Its got a bit of a tan hue so it wont be directly competing with the silver bellies on the wall lol. Ill REALLY try to decide exactly what I want before I start sewing thing on.

Im just hoping I can stay on track and finish this one before I start on the cheaper hat thats due in here soon ( An 80's $25 brown 3x Stetson with what looks like an ever so slightly lower crown.) Shiny things catch my eye and I get distracted easily so If I get two projects going at once I wont see my dining table again for a month.

I got the pics out of order, but I trust you fine gentle persons will figure out which is the "before" photo







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Looks great so far!

 

[RickP]

Day two of the conversion. Got some steaming, blocking and smoothing done. Whacked it with the cleaning sponge and horsehair brush... it actually cleaned up pretty decently. May actually NOT need a gas bath. Somewhere Ive got a box with a couple more colors of 1 1/2" ribbon, and a few rolls of 1" (key word is SOMEWHERE... havent found it yet) For now heres silverbelly, black, kacki, taupe, and grey ribbon. If i can find my other box, I know I have some brown, Peweter, and a medium silver grey. Would really like to look at a silverbelly color ribbon, but evidently NO-ONE has anything wider than 1/2". Feel free to chime and and offer thoughts.

At this point, I think Ill leave it at a 3" brim, and bind the edge with a wider Whippet sized ribbon. Im really liking the Silverbelly, but Im either stuck with the skinny 3/8" ribbon, or I need to make a new friend that I can talk out of some 1-1/4 or 1- 1/2 silverbelly grosgrain lol.. Edgebinding will match the ribbon

 

[RickP]

Finally found ONE of the missing ribbon rolls ... 1" pewter. Size looks good, but Im still leaning towards a wider 1-1/4 or 1-1/2" ribbon

 

[Mighty44]

Finally found ONE of the missing ribbon rolls ... 1" pewter. Size looks good, but Im still leaning towards a wider 1-1/4 or 1-1/2" ribbon
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Agreed—those wider ribbons look beautiful. I especially like the gold.

 

[RickP]

Agreed—those wider ribbons look beautiful. I especially like the gold.

Sooo many choices lol,, I do like the wider, lower contrast ribbon colors. Still trying to figure out where I put the other box of ribbons... It had 4 or 5 different colors with 1-1/2", 3/8", and 5/8" matching ribbon

 

[RickP]

Day 3 of the conversion... I decided 3" brim was just a hair much, so this morning I trimmed it down to 2-3/4" Think thats going to be the final size. Have some thunderstorms moving through here this morning, so we may just call this an inside day and keep the hats dry. Time to do a little brim edge sanding and wait for the power to go out lol. Now just need to find that missing box of ribbon so I can get rolling on the binding and band!

 

[RickP]

FINALLY found and ordered some older SIlverbelly 6 and ligne grosgrain...RIbbon wasnt too expensive, but DANG cheapest shipping was $22 lol.. Oh well FInally silverbelly in something bigger than 3/8"

 

[RickP]

6 and 16 ligne

 

[belfastboy]

All these years of hat making and never had a commission for a Derby/Bowler. Then a few months back I received two orders within a week Today I begin the side to side builds of a black and brown Derby.

 

[RickP]

AND I DID FIND SOME OF THE OTHER RIBBON! A 1 1/2" Pewter, and a 7/8" in Black, Silverbelly, and Khaki.... Humm the choices are NOT getting easier. Think Im still leaning toward the wider ribbon... I do really like the khacki and silverbelly. Will have to see what the wider silverbelly looks like when it gets here. Whatever I decide on, Ill be adding a matching 5/8" edge binding.

 

[RickP]

FINALLY found and ordered some older SIlverbelly 6 and ligne grosgrain...RIbbon wasnt too expensive, but DANG cheapest shipping was $22 lol.. Oh well FInally silverbelly in something bigger than 3/8"

Woo hoo! I take back the grumble about expensive ribbon shipping... just got an email that the seller just refunded $16 of shipping... Thats much better

 

[RickP]

I wish I had a three sided coin... It would simplify the decision... I like the Khaki, Silverbelly AND the Pewter equally