Images From Hatstruck Millinery Class: The Fedoras Stole the Show!

I'm a little disappointed, well very disappointed, because my sweet daughter deleted all but two of my images from the first class session, and many others from the second class session.  So I have no images of the ladies' large straw picture hats, none of my hat blocks, and no pictures of my millinery teacher, Mrs. Edwards; thank you sweet daughter.

On a more upbeat note, the class was a blast!  Mike, our only male, kept things spiced up--you were too funny Mike! Ola, you are too generous; thanks for all of those snacks.  Natasha, you are so nice.  And Mrs. Edwards, thank you so much for sharing your hats and knowledge with us.  Every time I could not remember something, I would consult my dear teacher.

To your upper left, is Natasha.  Natasha was on a mission to make one of her friends a fedora modeled after one of his vintage fedoras.  I must say that she knocked it out of the park.

As mentioned, Mrs. Edwards stopped in.  She  brought two hats from her vintage collection, including two hats that she personally made. She made the beautiful flower hat to your left in the early 1960s.  She also made the pearl-appliqued pillbox to your right.  However, one of her students made the flower many years ago.  Although we originally rolled the edges of these types of flowers using our own saliva (spit-rolled), this one was rolled by adding glue to its edges.

Ola fell in love with my square crown hat block, and besides making an open-crown pork pie floppy straw hat in the first session, she also blocked two felt hats from the square crown block. There are several things that will make a fur felt hat look amateurish, some of which include leaving in a rope line if trim will not be covering it; blunt cut brim edges; turned up brims showing flat surface when the remainder of the hat has a nap.  The latter issue drives me crazy.  So, on this hat, Ola was shown how to turn the upturned brim of this hat into the same velour finish as the crown.

Mike, yes Mike, I threatened to tie his hands and gag him; he had lots of energy.  Anyway, Mike also wanted to make a hat for a friend; so, in the first session he made a fedora, see left image.  Although the block head size was true to his head size, there was a gap between the hat and the sides of his head.  So, I shared with Mike how he could get a custom fit in the same manner that hatters did using a conformature (a head sizing device invented in the 1800s, today costing several thousand dollars), except he could get the same results for little or no cost at all.  So, Mike went home and created his own custom hat block using some of my custom fit suggestion, including the instructions for making your own hat block from a post here on this blog.  He also made his own block spinner (block stand).  See image in upper mid-right.  In this image, Mike is beveling the brim edge.  Anyway, the final hat shape that Mike decided on is what he described as a "modified cattleman."

 Although it was not my intention to turn this into a hatting class, this is where all of the students wanted to go.  Hatting, the making of men hats, is extremely labor intensive. We stayed long hours working on these hats. All but Ola's hat, above, were blocked on an open crown block, a block having no definition.  All of the shaping was done by hand.  Hatting requires many more steps than a milliner would employ to make a fedora, but hatting is fun and exciting despite its labor intensity.

Below are a few more images. They are not in any particular order and there are many procedures missing. Enjoy!

Adding Band Block Before Ironing Brim

Bashing With the Open Crown Block

Ola Sporting a Hat I Made for Show-and-Tell

Singing the Fly-Away Fur

Polishing the Felt

Some Hatters Tools You Should Welcome Into Your Couture Millinery Workroom

Hatters, those specializing in making men hats, have the most wonderful tools you would ever want to play with in your couture millinery workroom.  Over the years, I have passionately studied hatting.  As I've mentioned before, the fedora is my favorite hat.  I'm sure it's because of my grandfather.  I've seen where some have written that there are approximately 92 processes that go into making men hats.  I'm not writing about those making men hats in the same manner women hats are made.  I'm sure that these 92 processes probably start with the collection and processing of the wool or fur.   Anyway, to your left, are a few of the tools I have collected over the years.  With the exception of the wooden foot tolliker,  these tools range from vintage to antique, and they really have the potential to make your job easier in the workroom.  Following are short explanations describing what I use these tools for.

Hat Sizer:  Used for measuring the inside head size after a hat has been completed.  Remember that everything that we add to the inside of a hat (head size ribbon, lining, or brim lip under crown if they have been blocked separately) diminishes the head size opening.  Therefore a slight stretching may be needed if these things have not been taken into consideration before blocking the hat.

Brass Band Block:  Used to hold material inside the flange (brim block having a center head size opening) opening.  Please view the video at the end of this post to see how the brass band block is used.

Rounding Jack: Used to cut the brim a uniform distance from the crown.  Here is a demonstration showing how to use the rounding jack.

Shackle:  Used to curl the brim.  Here is a demonstration showing how to use a wooden shackle.  A demonstration showing how to use the metal shackle is shown here.

Foot Tolliker:  Used to set a 90 degree angle from the crown to the brim.  When I learned felt and straw blocking, it was required that the crown and brim be blocked separately, and that the crown or brim head size be wired.  This ensured that there would be a 90 degree angle.  However, today many of us block our hats in one piece, and if the hat is not blocked correctly, it will droop from the head size (when not in the design).  I use the wood tolliker on straw and the iron tolliker on felt.  Another way I use the the foot tolliker is to reduce the head size of a hat after it has been blocked.  View this video for a demonstration on using the wooden tolliker.

Pot Belly Polishing Iron:  I'm not sure if this is the correct name for this iron.  I know that it is a polishing iron, and I call it a pot belly iron because the underside of the iron is curved.  This is not a hatter's iron.   I actually saw it in a vintage millinery book.  I don't even know how milliners used the iron.  However, I use the iron to curve brims without the use of brim blocks, as well as to iron dents and creases into hats, especially fedoras.

Below is a YouTube video that I fell in love with because I learned a new technique.  I can bash an open crown (a man's hat crown having no dents/creases) as well as any man or woman, I'm  proud to say.  As a matter of fact I prefer hand bashed crowns on men.  What I liked about this video is how the hatter blocked the crown on an open crown block, then put it on a pre-shaped fedora block having built in bash and telescope, and finally using the tolliker to set the telescope at the tip (top) of the crown.  Just another way of doing it, although the end results is still a pre-shaped hat.  Anyway, enjoy the video.  Oh, if you are familiar with hatting or blocking in general or the difference between hat bodies and hoods, you may notice a few interesting things in or not in this video.

A Little Hat Fun With Rodney Dangerfield

I have to admit two things: 1)  I love hatting as much as I love millinery; and 2) I love comedies as much as I love mysteries.  Rodney Dangerfield is one of my favorite comedians; so, when I saw this clip I just had to share it.  In addition, it reminded me of when my children were very young and one of our family friends would visit us--an elderly lady that has since passed away.  My kids simply loved this lady.  She wore her hats high atop her large wig.  In other words, she really looked quite funny.  So, upon seeing her, the kids would run up to her, hug her very warmly, and then run away laughing. Our friend was really happy they loved her so much that I don't believe she ever noticed they were so amused with her wig/hat combination.  What is so cute about this story is that it is one we can warmly laugh about today.

Here is a clearer, longer un-embeddable version of the clip (opens in another window).  I hope you enjoy this clip while I'm busy working on hats for my next post.