u/Odd_Rope_9677

Initial make my hat suck less thread https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoricalCostuming/comments/1um924n/comment/ovfopg0/?context=1&screen_view_count=2ok,

The Drip

ok so long term I do want a tricorn bc it has a martial feel that a slouch does not, but I’m going to a event at Hershel Houses Woodbury School tomorrow and want to rock my period attire, so I’m in the shop ….. first pic is how much my hat sucked ….. second pic is roughly what I’m aiming for. I decided it didnt have to go way down low on my head like a ball cap (which is what I used as a mold for my custom hat block How I made a perfect custom hat block easily and cheaply ) so I cut my block in order to make the crown lower , which bought me more brim. Then proceeded to steam and stretch the heck out of if. Felt is actually pretty cool to work with, it’s so unnoticeabley maluable and pliable….. im really glad my wife bought the steam cleaner, I’ve found several really handy uses for it (none of which are cleaning). Followed by some clamping and stretching. I’ve discovered that it Is very rare i encounter a poroblem in life that cannot be improved in some way by hitting something with a hammer.

Now that I’m starting to get the brim flattened out I wanted something flat I could set on it while the block was in it so I could clamp it to the table. My 7 year old son has been on a hardcore cutting-shit-out-with-a-jigsaw kick so after I traced my newly shortened block onto it I let him cut the hole out while I drank a beer

I’m going to steam and stretch another round or two then clamp it down for a few hours hoping it will get the shape I’m going for. then I’ll borrow a turkey feather from a customer mount and add an inkle hat band from some leftover tape my daughter and I weaved on her inkle loom I made her.

UPDATE IN A NEW THREAD BC I WANTED TO ADD PICS

Believe it or I actually have no formal or informal training in millinery. just bought felt blank and made things up as I went. I’m not sure where procedurely my folly lay, I’m thinking maybe I should not have formed the shape of the crown to functionally exact cast of my own noggin as a hat block. maybe I just have a weird shaped head idk but I feel like the crowns a bit low in front. any suggestions for getting my wings simetrical and everything shapely.

the resources I have at my disposal.

steam cleaner gun

foam custom cast for my own dear knap hat block

hand sewing and a sewing machine

A can do attitude Combined with raw patriotism

well, my waistcoat still sucks but I’ve managed to get my footwear much more historically correct and I got my hat roughed in. I’ll probably make a hat thread later seeking advice.… but I like where the overall package is now that I got the right kicks. The goal here is ”did somebody say the British were coming? Bet”

I’m making myself a new cocked hat. After all the struggle and frustration of shaping my old one, I realized about a month later that there was a much better way to do it. Naturally, my first thought was, “Fat lot of good that does me. It’s not like I’m going to make another tricorn. Who needs two?”

Well, that was before I decided it would be totally rad to wear it on the lake. Alcohol and water skis were involved, and now I have to make a new hat.

I’m starting with a cheap eBay milliner’s felt blank. I have a pretty fat noggin, about 7 3/4, so it takes a fair amount of work just to get the crown to sit down properly on my head. I also get real tired of putting scalding hot felt directly on my head and burning my neck while trying to shape the thing. So here’s how to make a custom hat block that is actually shaped like your head.

I didn’t want to ruin my everyday tinfoil hat, so I lined one of my caps with loose aluminum foil, shoved it on my head, and curled the edges up so there was no confusion about where the hat ended.

Hat selection matters. Start with a hat you already own that fits your head well. You don’t want a structured hat like a trucker hat. You want one that feels like it contacts your head fairly evenly all the way around. At the same time, you don’t want something too loose and floppy. It needs to more or less hold its shape when you gently take it off your head and flip it upside down.

Once your hat is lined with aluminum foil, not only can the government no longer read your thoughts, but you also have a nice little conspiracy-proof mold for expanding foam.

I used two-part expanding foam, the kind used in taxidermy, because I’m a taxidermist and already had some on hand. For historical costume purposes, or for someone only doing this once, you can just go to the hardware store and buy expanding insulation foam. The kind pictured would work if it was all you had, but it’s meant for small gaps. For this project, you’d be better off with the kind advertised for filling large gaps.

Mine looks a little odd because I’m a tightwad and I keep random scraps of foam around the shop. I used those scraps to fill space so I could use less of the more expensive two-part foam. Just ignore the random black and white foam in the middle and imagine the whole hat filled with spray foam.

Notice that I clamped the hat by the bill with the rim level, and the hat is still holding the rough shape it had when I took it off my head. Spray enough foam to completely fill the void where your noggin would be. It’s fine if it rises above the rim. This stuff is literally called expanding foam, and I doubt anyone is going to underfill it because everyone is always surprised by how much foam expands.

Once you spray the foam, leave it alone until it sets up good and hard. Before you pop the hat off, take a Sharpie and draw a line around the rim/brim, or whatever you want to call it. Then remove the hat and use a hacksaw to cut the excess foam off nice and flat, using your line as a reference.

And there you go: a custom hat block made specifically for your own dome.

You’re welcome.

authors note: do not judge the cleanliness of my studio. Very few geniuses are tidy.

yes. I know the beard doesn’t work. unfortunately I cannot afford a divorce right now, financially or emotionally, and that’s where I’ll be if I shave my beard.

and to be fair, I think my boy‘s set up is actually better than mine, and it atleast I can say is much more created by me vs purchased. the shirt is handmade (donated by a friend who’s son outgrew it) but I made the buckskin britches and real coonskin cap, as well as both bags, and I weaved both hot straps and made other accoutrements.

a pokeball short starter is technically historuly plausible. really!