What Hat Are You Working On Today?

[HatsBySam]

Very sharp! Well done.

Thank you!

 

[Rollin Rains]

This hat has been a struggle. My first 100% nutria hat. I started with a 3 1/4 inch flat brim, bound it and gave it a 3/4” curl, with an RCA crown. It didn’t look right. So I flattened the curl, gave it more of a snowy river brim shape, and changed the crown to more of a fedora crease. Still didn’t look right. Even with a fair amount of stiffener, the nutria is pretty soft and the brim just wouldn’t hold its shape well. So last night I trimmed the brim to 2.5 inches, bound it again, flanged to a snap fedora and gave the crown more of a diamond shaped fedora crease, and I think I’m finally content with it.

Wow! What a beauty.
I wouldn't change a thing!

 

[HatsBySam]

Wow! What a beauty.
I wouldn't change a thing!

Thank you!

 

[RickP]

Well I believe the great wool hat experiment of 2025 is over and done. They dont block very well and are just sloppy. I was hoping I could stiffen the brim with a binding but that failed pretty badly. no matter how much I had hopes, it just wasnt going to happen. Like trying to sew a binding on a bag of jello. Puckered more with every stitch. I fixed it though.... the old 3" brim is now 2-1/2 with a clean edge. No matter how much stiffener, they dont hold their shape. Regardless what one does, they still feel like a burlap sack. Enough lipstick on this pig...not going to waste good shellac in this one. I give up.

Oh well... live and learn. That will teach me to make auction bids without looking close at the description and pictures closely. ( I THOUGHT one was an older generic Mallory hat.... turned out to be a wool Mallory by Stetson... the other was a Stetson Buffalo Collection wool that was listed as 7-3/8... turned out to be 7-5/8)

Not even being worthy of lawn mowing hats, Theyll go in a box of other lesser lids for sale at our local Christmas in Crockett fair next month... Surely someone will give them a good home. Free up some space for nicer hats

 

[Blare]

This hat has been a struggle. My first 100% nutria hat. I started with a 3 1/4 inch flat brim, bound it and gave it a 3/4” curl, with an RCA crown. It didn’t look right. So I flattened the curl, gave it more of a snowy river brim shape, and changed the crown to more of a fedora crease. Still didn’t look right. Even with a fair amount of stiffener, the nutria is pretty soft and the brim just wouldn’t hold its shape well. So last night I trimmed the brim to 2.5 inches, bound it again, flanged to a snap fedora and gave the crown more of a diamond shaped fedora crease, and I think I’m finally content with it.

Beautiful color combo.

 

[Blare]

Well I believe the great wool hat experiment of 2025 is over and done. They dont block very well and are just sloppy. I was hoping I could stiffen the brim with a binding but that failed pretty badly. no matter how much I had hopes, it just wasnt going to happen. Like trying to sew a binding on a bag of jello. Puckered more with every stitch. I fixed it though.... the old 3" brim is now 2-1/2 with a clean edge. No matter how much stiffener, they dont hold their shape. Regardless what one does, they still feel like a burlap sack. Enough lipstick on this pig...not going to waste good shellac in this one. I give up.

Oh well... live and learn. That will teach me to make auction bids without looking close at the description and pictures closely. ( I THOUGHT one was an older generic Mallory hat.... turned out to be a wool Mallory by Stetson... the other was a Stetson Buffalo Collection wool that was listed as 7-3/8... turned out to be 7-5/8)

Not even being worthy of lawn mowing hats, Theyll go in a box of other lesser lids for sale at our local Christmas in Crockett fair next month... Surely someone will give them a good home. Free up some space for nicer hats



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Was a good experiment none the less. And at least it didn’t break the bank.

 

[RickP]

Was a good experiment none the less. And at least it didn’t break the bank.

$30 for one and $12 for the other lol Ill be more careful going forward

 

[RickP]

Good news on yesterdays new little Stetson with the stitched brim!

...the two spots up front turned out to be oil spots with some ***k built up. Little daubing with gauze and lighter fluid and they came right out! Got all the loose threads picked out ( someone had pulled the sweatband out) and no further damage found. Untacked the ribbon so I can sew in a new sweat, and the grosgrain is in great condition... it can go right back on

. A little blocking, steaming and smoothing and its looking decent. Ill do a bit of spot cleaning around the brim to clean up a few little spots, but Im thinking I wont have to worry about much cleaning on the rest of the body. Time to start fitting up a new sweatband....

 

[RickP]

New sweatband fit and assembeled. Looking better already. Ill do a basting stitch here in a bit and maybe after the days football is over I can stay up late and get it sewn in. Ribbon wont take but a few minutes after that. Ive got some leather work Ive really got to get going on tomorrow, so Id like to get this out of the way

 

[RickP]

Basting stitch is in and everything semi secure in place! Now I can try it on... Sweatband fit is perfect and a fast hand bashing is looking great.... shapes nicely without steam. Felts nice enough that Im thinking this one may have actually started life as a Royal Deluxe. gonna be a nice little hat when its done ( the outside pic is real close to the actual color). Im loving the brim stitching.

Best of all I havent *****ed my fingers at all... I may get brave and actually carry on with sewing the sweatband in tonight. Hatband ribbon and new liner are standing by! Mighty happy those two spots up front came out!

 

[Blare]

Basting stitch is in and everything semi secure in place! Now I can try it on... Sweatband fit is perfect and a fast hand bashing is looking great.... shapes nicely without steam. Felts nice enough that Im thinking this one may have actually started life as a Royal Deluxe. gonna be a nice little hat when its done ( the outside pic is real close to the actual color). Im loving the brim stitching.

Best of all I havent *****ed my fingers at all... I may get brave and actually carry on with sewing the sweatband in tonight. Hatband ribbon and new liner are standing by! Mighty happy those two spots up front came out!

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Nice. Gonna be a sharp looking hat

 

[HatsBySam]

Huge fan of Hornskov, waiting for a special occasion to sweet talk the wife into ordering me a custom one, lol. When a Hornskov in my size went up on EBay, had to jump on it. Not abused at all, just needed some love.

 

[HatsBySam]

Huge fan of Hornskov, waiting for a special occasion to sweet talk the wife into ordering me a custom one, lol. When a Hornskov in my size went up on EBay, had to jump on it. Not abused at all, just needed some love.

Huge fan of Hornskov, waiting for a special occasion to sweet talk the wife into ordering me a custom one, lol. When a Hornskov in my size went up on EBay, had to jump on it. Not abused at all, just needed some love.

This is one of a couple of recent hats that have proven to me that even though I love the 3-3 1/4 inch flat brims with pencil curls - they just don’t look good on me. The deep center crease also caused a bit too much tightness to the crown taper.

So, I trimmed the brim to 2.75, and flanged it to a snappy fedora brim. I changed the crease to a diamond. I then felt I had no other choice but to class this beauty up with a black grosgrain bow and band with matching wind trolley. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully Mr. Hornskov would approve.

 

[RickP]

This is one of a couple of recent hats that have proven to me that even though I love the 3-3 1/4 inch flat brims with pencil curls - they just don’t look good on me. The deep center crease also caused a bit too much tightness to the crown taper.

So, I trimmed the brim to 2.75, and flanged it to a snappy fedora brim. I changed the crease to a diamond. I then felt I had no other choice but to class this beauty up with a black grosgrain bow and band with matching wind trolley. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully Mr. Hornskov would approve.

But... but...but...theres no buzzard feather now! lol... Looks good

 

[The Shoe]

This is one of a couple of recent hats that have proven to me that even though I love the 3-3 1/4 inch flat brims with pencil curls - they just don’t look good on me. The deep center crease also caused a bit too much tightness to the crown taper.

So, I trimmed the brim to 2.75, and flanged it to a snappy fedora brim. I changed the crease to a diamond. I then felt I had no other choice but to class this beauty up with a black grosgrain bow and band with matching wind trolley. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully Mr. Hornskov would approve.

Definitely an improvement with that ribbon. Nice work.

 

[HatsBySam]

But... but...but...theres no buzzard feather now! lol... Looks good

lol, we’ve have some wild turkeys in the yard recently, I’ll go see if I can find a turkey feather for it.

 

[HatsBySam]

Definitely an improvement with that ribbon. Nice work.

Thank you!

 

[hambone71]

Basting stitch is in and everything semi secure in place! Now I can try it on... Sweatband fit is perfect and a fast hand bashing is looking great.... shapes nicely without steam. Felts nice enough that Im thinking this one may have actually started life as a Royal Deluxe. gonna be a nice little hat when its done ( the outside pic is real close to the actual color). Im loving the brim stitching.

Best of all I havent *****ed my fingers at all... I may get brave and actually carry on with sewing the sweatband in tonight. Hatband ribbon and new liner are standing by! Mighty happy those two spots up front came out!

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That turned out nicely! The felt probably goes back a couple decades further than Pure Prairie League.

 

[jchance]

So, I trimmed the brim to 2.75, and flanged it to a snappy fedora brim. I changed the crease to a diamond. I then felt I had no other choice but to class this beauty up with a black grosgrain bow and band with matching wind trolley. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully Mr. Hornskov would approve.

Nice work! Newbie question. What do you do to the brim after you trim it? Is it as simple as trimming the brim and leave it as is OR is there a special procedure to lock it in without it coming apart later?

 

[HatsBySam]

Nice work! Newbie question. What do you do to the brim after you trim it? Is it as simple as trimming the brim and leave it as is OR is there a special procedure to lock it in without it coming apart later?

The density/quality of the felt keep it looking good over time. I’m sure the stiffening agent applied during the felting process play a major role as well. But I don’t do anything to the brim edge after trimming them, and so far haven’t had any problems with the raw edge brims.