How to Make a Felt Fedora

Having become a universal symbol of sleekness and style, the fedora hat has developed its own mythology. Pugnacious gangsters wore them in all the '30s and '40s flicks. Humphrey Bogart famously dawned one as well. And now, you can too. Made of felt, a non-woven fabric of pressed woolen fibers, fedora hats are relatively simple to construct. With a few cheap, easily accessible supplies, you can make your own felt fedora hat. You'll be looking cool -- and a little bit sinister--in no time at all.

Things You'll Need

• Hat block
• T-pins
• Rubber bands
• Felt
• Scissors
• Glue
• Glue brush
• Seam binding or ribbon
• Iron
• Carpet thread
• Needle

Instructions

1. Buy a hat block that fits your head. These are cheap online. Cover the block with your felt material carefully. It's very important that you dampen the felt first so that it binds easily. Place the T-pin at the block's top to bind the felt and stretch the fabric down the sides of the block. Use a pin to connect the material again at the base.

2. Fashion the felt downward and take out each of the pins. Wrap a rubber band around the base of the hat block. Brush glue across the block. Then attach a second layer of felt. With scissors cut off the the crown and the overflowing felt.

3. Cut and dampen two sheets of felt for the hat's brim. Make sure they are a couple inches wider than then your desired brim size. Glue then iron both felt pieces together when they are still moist.

4. Clip an opening in the the middle of the sheets for the crown. The opening should be approximately one inch smaller than the crown. Forge the brim's exterior by bringing the felt down over the hat block's crown. Once the material is dry, remove both.

5. Put the crown on the brim. Fasten them with a heavy duty thread and wrap them with ribbon or seam binding. Secure the hat by attaching ribbon on the inside too, making a band for the hat. Of course looking stylish is key, so remember the material -- ribbons and felt -- should be of colors that compliment each other.

References

• Hat Shapers: The Wooden Hat Block Is a Thing of the Past!; 2011
• Bringing Back the Hat; Brett and Kat McKay; 2008