How to Make Hand-draped Felt Hats

A few simple tucks make a plain cloche more elegant.

Felt hats have been popular for decades in styles for both men and women. Felt is soft and warm and a fairly easy material to work with. A cloche is a bell shaped hat that was very popular during the flapper era. This style of hat can be worn in its most basic form or adorned with ribbons and flowers. Given the pliable nature of felt, milliners are able to drape, mold and shape the standard bell shape hat into wearable works of art.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Standard hat form
• Cone of felt
• Spray bottle filled with water
• Straight pins
• Iron with steam setting
• Spray starch

Instructions

1. Measure the circumference of the head just above the ears. Stick your finger under the tape to give yourself a little wiggle room. You don't want the hat to be too tight on your head.

2. Spray the inside of the felt cone with water. Do not completely saturate the fabric, you want it somewhere between slightly moist and really wet.

3. Slide the cone of felt over the hat form and smooth down, pressing firmly.

4. Use the straight pins to anchor the hat to the form. When the hat is drying it will shrink and without the pins, start to move up the hat form ruining the shape and size you are trying to make.

5. Pinch, fold and tuck the felt any way you'd like. Hold the shape in place with pins.

6. Steam the hat as you're working so the felt has more give. Move and shape the felt around the hat form and pin in place until you've achieved your desired look.

7. Spray the hat generously with spray starch and let it dry completely, pinned to the hat form.

8. Unpin from the form and try on. Embellish your felt hat as desired.

Tips & Warnings

• If you've added a lot of folds and tucks you might want to secure them with a few stitches.

References

• Felt Hats
• How 2 Hats: Felt Cloche Hat
• Hat Shapers: Instructions For Felting
• You Tube: Intro to 'Freeform Hat Blocking Workshop' with Jasmin Zorlu