Huffman Hat

My hat was inspired by David A. Huffman's Hexagonal Column with Cusps. I tried to use things that are common in a household to make the hat. I used a Saddle Threshold as a ruler, a slat as a compass, and glue as a thread for sewing. I chose exhibition floor carpet as the material for the hat because I use it often in my work and I have a butt-ton of leftovers. You can use polyester felt.

1. Sewing tape
2. Glue (Tytan classic fix)
3. 1500×800 millimetres brown wrapping paper
4. 1500×800 millimetres exhibition floor carpet (flat needle punched)
5. Flat head thumb tacks or drawing pin
6. Sewing needle
7. Small binder clips
8. 1500 millimetres aluminium saddle threshold
9. 1500 millimetres wood slat
10. Screw
11. Electric screwdriver
12. 2,5 millimetre drill bit
13. Soldering iron
14. Mechanical Pencil Lead
15. Drawing compass (pair of compasses)
16. Suitable sized cooking pot
17. Empty ballpoint refill
18. Utility knife
19. Scissors
20. Oval plastic paint bucket

First we need to determine the size of the hat. There are several ways to do this, I used the one I saw in the video “Crafting a Fabulous Top Hat from Cardboard!” and made a cardboard template on which I drew a wavy line using an oval plastic paint bucket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&feature=shared&v=1Q2uiRGKRrQ Thanks to Reuse And Play for sharing. For this template, I made a disk out of corrugated cardboard. I looked for a saucer that was the right size. I used a compass to draw a circle on the corrugated cardboard that was the same diameter as the saucer. I placed the saucer on the outline and cut around it with a utility knife. I put the mechanical pencil lead through the hole I made with the compass and drew the outline of the brim. I drew side bisectors on the paper I used for the brim template and placed it on a hard cushion so I could draw a three-dimensional line. If this doesn't work for you, then look for a suitable pattern for the brim. They are also on Instructables. I also learned a lot about hat making while searching and reading.

The pattern takes about 40 minutes to make. I made the drawing of the crown on 1500×800 millimetres brown wrapping paper. The circumference of my head is 580 millimetres, and I will use this size from now on. David A. Huffman's work, as its title suggests, is hexagonal, and within that, a regular hexagon. Therefore, I divided 580 millimetres by six (about 96.5 millimetres). The crown of my hat is a "frustum cone" set on its tip, so it narrows downwards. Therefore, I corrected it to 100 millimetres and started constructing the equilateral triangle with this size.

- I divided the paper in half on the long side with a straight line (Let's call it e. straight line.).

- I marked a point on the straight line about 150 millimetres from one of the short sides (Let's call it point A.).

- I set the length of the side of the equilateral triangle on the compass. (100 millimetres)

- I placed the tip of the compass at the marked point (A) and drew a semi-circle so that it intersected the longer segment of the line.

- Without changing the width of the compass, I placed the tip of the compass at the intersection of the semi-circle and the line and drew a circle.

- Without changing the width of the compass, I placed the tip of the compass at the intersection of the semi-circle and the circle and intersected the circle. (Let's call it point B.)

- I repeated this on the other side. (Let's call it point C.)

- I drew a half-line from point B so that it intersected point A.

- I repeated this from point C. (If I connect points B. and C., I should get an equilateral triangle.)

- I increased the length of the side of the equilateral triangle by 20% and set it on the compass. (120 millimetres)

- I placed the tip of the compass on point (A) and drew an arc so that it intersects the half-lines. (Let's call them points D and E.)

- I connected points B. and D. (with a aluminium saddle threshold ) so that this half-line intersects the bisector (e.) line. (Let's call it line b.)

- As a check, I repeated this with points C. and E. (Let's call it line c.) The three lines should intersect at the same point. (Let's call it point O.)

- I drew on the wood slat the distance from points A. B. and D. to point O.

- I drilled with a 2.5 mm drill bit.

- I put a screw in hole O. on the wood slat.

- I placed the tip of the screw at point O. on the drawing.

- I placed the mechanical pencil lead in hole B: and drew an arc. (Let's call it arc b.) This arc is the bottom line of the pattern.

- I repeated this with holes A. and D. (Let's call it arc a. and d.) Arc a. is the center line of the pattern, arc b. is the top line of the pattern.

- I placed the tip of the compass at the intersection of arc a. and line b., and the pencil lead at the intersection of arc a. and line c.

- I drew the resulting dimension on the other side of arc a.

- I placed the tip of the compass at the intersection of the resulting intersection and repeated the intersection. And so on.

- I repeated this at the intersection of line e. and arc a.

- I placed a screw at point O., which I used as the tip of a large compass.

- I fitted the Saddle Threshold to the intersections of arc a. and the screw, and crossed arcs b. and d.

- Without changing the width of the compass, I placed the tip of the compass at the intersection of line e. and arc a. and drew an arc between arcs a. and b., on either side of line e.

- I placed the tip of the compass at the intersection of the resulting arc with arc a. I repeated the previous step. And so on.

- I repeated this from the intersections left free on arc a., between arcs a. and c. I had to draw six repeating patterns.

- I changed the width of the compass to half. I drew semicircles from the intersections of the arc a in alternating directions (up and down).

- I drilled 2.5 millimetres holes on the slat at 25 and 35 millimetres from point D.

- I placed the mechanical pencil lead in the holes and drew an arc centred at O. These arcs are the top of the crown of the hat, and the excess needed for sewing.

- I drilled 2.5 millimetres holes on the slat between points O. and B., at 25, 50, and 57 millimetres from point B. These arcs are the bottom of the crown of the hat, and the excess needed for sewing.

- I drew a wavy line between the 25 and 50 millimetres arcs, using an oval plastic paint bucket.

- I repeated this in parallel on the excess arc needed for sewing.

- I added 10-10 millimetres to the sides of the pattern because it is needed for sewing.

“A regular hexagon is bicentric, meaning that it is both cyclic (has a circumscribed circle) and tangential (has an inscribed circle). The common length of the sides equals the radius of the circumscribed circle or circumcircle.” I used this fact because of the oval shape of the head. The crown is two hexagons, rotated 30˚ relative to each other. The vertex of the lower hexagon faces forward. The vertex of the upper hexagon faces to the side. This means that the top of the crown is an oval rotated 90˚. That is unpleasant to look at. Therefore, the top of the crown is a simple circle with a radius of 117 millimetres (+ the extra for sewing).

I finished the sewing patterns. I made two pieces of the brim and the crown top. I needed them for practice. (This is not true, as I made a lot of test pieces.) I put a marking pin in the compass instead of the pencil lead (the better kits include it). If you don't have one, you can use an empty ballpoint pen refill and a suitable sized cooking pot (in my case, 210 millimetres in diameter). With this, I scored the small semicircles on the outside, the large arcs on the inside. After that, I took out two big bags of patience, looked for some good music, and started folding the paper. I glued the parts. This way I could check the dimensions and the joints.

The hat is made from exhibition floor mat. The mat is made of 600 grams/square meter, needle felted polypropylene with an impregnated backing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use the sewing templates, so I had to redraw the crown pattern on the mat. I then placed the cooking pot on the arch and used a soldering iron to scoring the large arches on the inside and the small semicircles on the outside. I pierced through the centre of the semicircles with flat head thumb tacks. The arches need to be drawn very faintly, because the soldering iron burns the graphite into the mat. (Before doing this, I practiced a lot so as not to melt through the mat.) I cut the threads of from the excess needed for sewing with an electric hair clipper to make it thinner and easier to shape. I cut the excess needed for sewing at an angle, just like on papercraft models.

I rarely wear caps, let alone hats. Because of this, I don't have a particular favorite style, and my cap doesn't have a pattern.

Nevertheless I tried multiple types of paint to customize the hat. Here are my suggestions and observations.

1. Textile marker: Not suitable for coloring polypropylene.
2. Acrylic spray can (orange): Gets the job done quick and efficient. Looks presentable. The downside is it takes the soft texture away from the hat
3. Alcohol based marker (blue):Looks good. Takes a lot of time to dry. Biggest downside is, it makes smudges everywhere while it dries. I smeared the pale blue stain from my finger onto the carpet.
4. Acrylic based marker (green):The best for last, excellent colours, doesn't leave marks. only downsides it also needs some time to dry.

Before gluing, I folded the trimmed parts of the Topper and the brim and clamped them with binder clips. This makes it easier to shape while gluing. I used Tytan classic fix type transparent (so unfortunately not visible in the pictures) glue, which is synthetic rubber-based and dissolved in organic solvents. I have attached the technical data sheet of the glue in PDF format because it is not available in all countries. Based on this, you can find the right glue for you. I put a small amount of glue in the carvings of the large inner arches, then folded the arch and fixed it with binder clips. I repeated this on each arch. Depending on the temperature, I had 20 minutes to correct any mistakes, so I had to work quickly. The solvent in the glue dissolves polypropylene, and when mixed with the synthetic rubber, I got a stable and flexible bond. I tried to tear it apart, but I couldn't. :)

I used combination pliers to press the glued parts together to melt together the polypropylene. (Sorry for the repetition of words, my English is not the best.). I aligned the centre of the top (topper) and the centre of the front of the crown, inside out. I applied glue to the trimmed parts, up to a third of the top, and secured them with a small binder clip. The guide lines in the drawing help a lot in aligning the clips. I placed the clamp jaws of the clip on the line. I applied the glue in both directions (right and left), up to a third of the top. I turned the parts back over and shaped the top edge. I applied the glue in small sections and continued to attach the clips (right and left). I used combination pliers to press the glue together to fuse the polypropylene.

I also glued the back side of the crown, then secured the brim, using the same procedure as the top.