Things You'll Need:
- Hat block
- Hat felt
- Thin rope
- Steamer
- Iron
- Ironing board
- Leather strip
- Fabric glue
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Step 1
Steam the inside of your felt to make the material easy to manipulate. The felt is too stiff to be shaped without being steamed. Make sure that you get it quite wet.
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Step 2
Stretch the felt over the hat block. You need it to be stretched as tightly as possible over the block. Use both hands to pull it down.
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Step 3
Smooth the felt out against the hat block. Make sure that there are no bubbles or bumpy spots and your felt is laying smoothly against the hat block.
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Step 4
Tie your rope into a slip knot so that it makes a large loop that can be easily tightened.
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Step 5
With the felt pulled tightly across the block, place your rope over the felt and line it up with the groove in the bottom of your hat block. Make sure that the felt is still pulled tightly and tighten the rope so that it slips into groove holding your felt in place.
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Step 6
Pull your felt down even more to make sure that it is snug and there are no bumps.
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Step 7
Let it dry overnight.
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Step 8
Remove your felt from the block and steam the brim area. Place your felt on an ironing board and use your iron set on high to steam the brim. Flatten the brim with the iron so it sticks out and a 90-degree angle from the top of the hat. The felt shrinks heat with so you can press the iron into the wrinkles to smooth them away.
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Step 9
Steam each section of the brim. After it cools use your hands to mold in into the desired shape. Do this all the way around the brim.
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Step 10
Once you have the shape you want let it dry overnight.
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Step 11
Measure your leather strip so that it fits around the crown section of your hat and cut it to the desired length.
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Step 12
Put fabric glue on the strip and glue it to the base of the crown of the hat just above the brim.
