How to Make a Stovepipe Hat

Lincoln's stovepipe hat, beard, black tailored trousers and long frock coat have been stuck in the minds of millions. This look was typical for gentlemen of the late Victorian Era. Here is how to make your own stovepipe hat.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 3 sheets of black felt
• 3 sheets of shirt cardboard, cut to fit the felt
• 8" diameter paper plate
• 10" diameter paper plate
• Hot melt glue gun
• Clear hot melt glue sticks
• Wall sizing
• Water
• Painter's tray

1. Using the 8" paper plate, cut a circle on one piece of shirt cardboard. Using this as a template, cut a circle of black felt from the first felt sheet. Cut a second circle of black felt using the 10" diameter plate. The third sheet of black felt will be used as the "pipe" portion of the hat.

2. Mix wall sizing with water in a painter's tray to make a thin mixture. Soak all three felt pieces in wall sizing, the two circles and the remaining felt sheet that you did not cut into a circle.

3. Roll a sheet of shirt cardboard into a tube with an 8" diameter. Secure with hot melt glue and let the glue set. Use the 8" circle of shirt cardboard that you used for your felt template as the top of your hat by gluing it to the cardboard tube you have made.

4. Squeeze excess wall sizing from each piece of felt. Spread the 8-inch piece of felt on top of the cardboard hat mold. Spread the uncut felt sheet around the circumference of the cardboard tube portion of your hat mold. Allow to dry.

5. Glue the 10" circle of black felt to the 10" circle of shirt cardboard. After the felt has dried, attach felted brim cardboard to the bottom of the cardboard "hat" mold you are making. Pipe clear hot melt glue around the brim to secure. Wearing rubber finger protectors or rubber gloves to protect your hands, spread the glue carefully.

6. Trim inside the hat to fit your head, cutting a small hole with scissors first, then trimming to the inside of the cardboard tube.

Tips & Warnings

• To make a waterproof version of this hat, paint it with clear acrylic.
• Be careful to use good ventilation if you paint your hat with clear acrylic. If you can smell fumes, you do not have adequate ventilation.

[cracklegator]

on 3/2/2009 For those of us with few skills, it would be nice to have some critical coaching in how to accomplish some of the tasks requiring extreme manual dexterity. For instance, how does one simply glue an 8-inch diameter tube together? I found the task to be daunting, and had to invent a press to hold the two sections together as the glue dried. Surely not everyone can take the time and resources to do this. What is your secret for gluing the tube seam together flawlessly?

[cracklegator]

on 3/2/2009 A major problem is that nowhere does it tell how high the hat should be. The instructions say to "Roll a sheet of shirt cardboard into a tube with an 8" diameter," but it doesn't give the other dimension of this rectangle of shirt cardboard.

[arwen1964]

on 2/7/2009 I'd love to see a photo of the hat when you complete it, cracklegator. :)

[arwen1964]

on 2/7/2009 Thank you for reading and attempting this project. It is always good to have feedback. It is amazing the difference another's point of view makes in clarity of directions. I corrected the diameter versus circumference issue you noted. I also clarified a few things in the directions. The third sheet of black felt listed in the "things you need" section is the "stovepipe" portion of the hat. The first two were cut into an eight inch and ten inch circle. The eight inch circle of shirt cardboard is the top of the hat, and the ten inch circle is the brim. The rectangle of felt is the third sheet of felt listed in the directions. You do not need to cut a rectangle as the felt sheet already is one. Sorry for not making that specific. The "felted brim cardboard" is the larger of the two felted circles. A brim is usually larger in diameter than the crown of the hat. Hope this helps. I'd love to s

[cracklegator]

on 2/7/2009 Some of the directions for making this hat are obscure at best. Step Four, "Spread the felt rectangle around the diameter of the cardboard tube portion of hat mold" is virtually impossible to do. The diameter is simply a measurement of the thickness of the tube. Nothing can be spread around a diameter. Does the author mean "around the circumference"? That would work.
Also in Step Four, there is no "rectangle" of felt mentioned anywhere. What rectangle is the author talking about? We are instructed to cut out two circles—those are the only shapes mentioned. I'm wondering in which step I was supposed to cut a rectangle?
In Step Five we are instructed to attach "felted brim cardboard" but nowhere in the previous discussion is the term brim made. What piece is the brim? All I have are pieces of materials I've cut into shapes, but I don't know which is a brim that has been felted.
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