[Madhatters] my brown felt tophat

[Sarah James]

Holy crap - CNC hat blocks!  For that I would be willing to learn crazy
software.

To cover the edge of your brim, David, look for some nice bias tape.  Again,
Britex is your go-to place for this.

Alternatively. grosgrain could work if you're patient enough to steam the
heck out of it.  You'll need to pin it in place and steam it into shape
around the brim.

Finally, if you find some fabric that is just killer, cut a strip on the
bias to go around your brim.  Cut it twice as wide as you think you'll need
it - it will stretch and get skinny.

You can actually machine sew at least the first side of the tape to your
hat, but may want to hand stitch the other.

If you're going to cover the edge of the brim, I highly recommend wiring
it.  I know Lacis used to carry millinery wire.  Make sure you "spring" the
wire first - straighten it all out - before you bend it into the shape you
want.  This will increase the durability and life of your hat.

There's my two cents!


On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 3:10 PM, David Stainton <dstainton415 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Indeed Nan has told me about Lacis.
> I'll have to go there this weekend to see if they've got
> the silk and/or wool grosgrain which is seemingly impossible to find.
> According to wikipedia it used to be made of silk and wool, however I am
> unable
> to find a source online at all!
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grosgrain
>
> I'm impressed with Britex! Four floors of fabric and stuff...
> I didn't mind paying extra for black silk ribbon;
> noticeably higher quality than the synthetic one I got from Discount
> Fabric Outlet.
> My tophat also looks pretty fancy with the addition of the chicken
> feathers. ;-)
>
> I was thinking to sew brown trim; covering the edge of the brim.
> What should I use for this? Yesterday I should have obtained the silk
> or wool ribbon from Britex
> to do this...
>
> One of my coworkers works on the Syzygryd project at the TechShop and
> suggested that
> we could perhaps use a CNC mill to cut ourselves hatblocks. This would
> probably be far
> less work than traditional wood working techniques.
>
> David
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 7:24 PM, Kelly <hurtstotouchfire at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Have you tried Lacis? I'm sure your lady knows about it.
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 13:44, David Stainton <dstainton415 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> Hi Folks!
> >>
> >> Last night I sewed the grosgrain into my hat and Nan steamed and
> >> pressed the brim so that it is curved upward on the sides...
> >> I was surprised to discover that the felt hardened after it was pressed.
> >> Ideally I'd process the entire hat in a similar fashion to harden the
> felt...
> >> I'm not sure how to accomplish this; perhaps Nan's industrial iron
> >> could sufficiently steam the felt so that it hardens.
> >>
> >> I'm going to tack stitch the black ribbon onto the outside just above
> the brim.
> >> The black ribbon I purchased for 50 cents at Discount Fabric Outlet
> >> might not work well since
> >> the bottom circumference might be greater than the top
> >> circumference... I might have to use
> >> grosgrain instead of the ribbon.
> >>
> >> I was thinking to go to this so called excellent fabric store in the
> >> SF downtown:
> >> http://www.britexfabrics.com/
> >>
> >> But according to their online store they do not have wool or silk
> >> grosgrain; only rayon ;-(
> >>
> >>
> >> David
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Madhatters mailing list
> >> Madhatters at lists.noisebridge.net
> >> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/madhatters
> >>
> >
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-- 
Sarah James
Editor, Living

sarah at instructables.com
www.instructables.com/scoochmaroo
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