Let's Make a Cowboy Hat!

I have loved cowboy hats and western wear since my youth. Western movies hold a special place in my heart. Sadly my desire for different hats outweighs the amount of disposable income I have to spend on them. Within the last year or so I have been researching, reading, and watching the art of hat making. I decided to try my hand at hat making to see if I can't satiate my love of hats. Follow along as I (with the help of my very excited 5 year old daughter) make a hat!

You will need:

1 - Hat block sized for your head. This block was a model I found on Thingiverse that my neighbor printed out of PETG.

2 - Hat body. This is a wool hat body purchased on ETSY.

3 - Brim cutting jig.

4 - Sander with 220 grit sand paper.

5 - A wooden facial tool. The proper tool to use is called a Pusher Downer, but I ran across this tool in a store and figured the shape was close enough.

6 - A stock pot full of water.

7 - A piece of plywood to work on.

8 - Ironing board and iron.

Not pictured:

A length of cord. I used 550 cord.

Tea kettle for shaping purposes.

This seemed to be the most straight forward step, but it was a struggle to be honest. According to my research wool felt is harder to work that fur felt, but it is way cheaper to use on your first go. The wool definitely seems tough to work with, but it is definitely doable. I had some water going on high. I let it steam on the top and bottom until the whole middle was soft enough to stretch over the block. I used the paracord with a hatters knot to hold the body to the block. While it is warm I worked the cord down using the wooden tool. I did a bit of ironing on the crown to get it to smooth out as well. This took 3-4 resteams to get it right. I would advise that if you are using a 3d printed block to not steam the block. The plastic did not like that very much. After the hat was sufficiently blocked we move on to shaping.

At this point I begin to make it look like a hat. I used the iron on the wool setting to flatten the brim out to allow me to trim it to width. I took my sander with 220 grit sand paper and smoothed some of the fuzz. I didn't take a picture of it but i sprayed the hat down with denatured alcohol and lit it on fire to burn off all the little fuzz. After finishing I had just shy of 4 inches at the narrowest point, so i made a brim cutter at 3 3/4". I took part of an old coffee table, cut it to length, and screw a utility blade to the side with just enough blade sticking down to get through the hat. SIDE NOTE! If you use this method with a narrow piece of wood you will get stabbed in the palm by the back of the blade as I did. Once the brim was cut to width, I began using the tea kettle to steam specific spots so I could get it looking like I wanted. I wanted a Pinch Front, Tear Drop Crown and kinda curly sides for a cool outlaw feeling look. It was at this point that I realized that the brim was too heavy for the weight of the fabric, so remedial measures had to be taken.

Since the hat body I got was a bit on the floppy side, I chose to use a bit of Shellac to stiffen it. I opted for the spray kind because that is what Walmart had. If you choose to go this route I would do research on the proper application of that Shellac. The surface finish I got on mine is a little odd. I am not mad at it for a first attempt, but it could definitely be better. post Shellacing the stiffness is much better. It can now sit on my head and not look like a ladies sun hat. On to the final touches!

For the final touches, I am short a part. The leather sweat band did not arrive when I needed this hat done by. But to finish it off as is, I steamed the brim and shaped it to my liking. The brim now holds a shape and I am fairly happy with it. I added a leather hat band off one of my other hats for the glamor shot. Once the band comes in I will post an update. thank you all for taking the time to read my article and I hope that it inspires you to try something weird and new! I will definitely be attempting this again in the near future.