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Some felted hats


Dunsire

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I wanted a change from slippers so I switched to hats, I've always wanted to make a felted hat but was a bit daunted as to the ratio between the size of the crochet hat before felting and the final felted hat. Ok a swatch is the answer. My aunty was a milliner and I remember as a child seeing her stretch milliners felt over molds and steaming them so I knew I was going to have to get a mold. Where from the nearest place for cheap polystyrene ones is across the Pacific Ocean and by the time they arrive I might have lost interest? Make your own Joyce, you were brought up during WWII so you had to be innovative so get your finger out. Where to start, why, with all that polystyrene you've hoarded that came as packing. Now I want a fedora, so stack some polystyrene up cut it roughly to shape then glue it together, once dry, go to the loved one's sanctuary and use his band saw. Brilliant it cuts like butter without the shedding you get with a knife. The base seemed easy after that, just a bit of shaping to take the bending down of the peak then all stuck together and coated thickly with white PVC glue (makes for a smooth finish that doesn't shed it's little balls (am I allowed to say that, he..he..)). But what of the rounded crown of the one you made from an existing pattern Joyce? Why a tupperware mixing bowl with it's rim cut off and sanded does the trick, plus a hose pipe pinched from hubby's shed worked fine for the curve of the brim. So here they are, I found the first one I crocheted off an existing pattern was too big for me, even after two sessions of felting but the other one, which I made up myself using measurements from the before and after felting swatch I made, was much more my size. The Fedora modelled by my grand-daughter is my favourite and all of them were made from left over wool from other projects. That one was easy using measurements of 9 inches across the crown and the normal way of working in flat circles, I allowed 5 inches for the height before belling out for the brim. From then on it was just a matter of felting it twice and putting it on my mold to dry, with the aid of some bendy rubber covered wire for the brim pinning the brim down for the front.

Here are two of my hats, I've made another Fedora to go with my winter coat and am yet to put it up on my Flickr site. If you go to my flickr site you will see my home made hat mold as well. Hugs Joyce

Having heaps of trouble getting my pic up I will try later, can anyone explain why my html code and img code is always set to off?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunsire/5389313896/

After it has been properly felted

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Wonderful hats and beautiful model!

 

Thanks for all the good information on felting a hat. I've done purses and been going to try doing hats. It will come in handy.

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Your hats are marvelous! I flipped through several of your flickr pages and am impressed with your resourcefulness to make your own hat blocks. And also tickled to read your snafu when your hubby mis-connected the water. LOL. Crazy things happen.

 

Congratulations on some beautiful hats!

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