Help want to felt a hat from normal pattern

[craftylady1956]

Ok...so I would like to felt a mans hat. I have only felted a purse..one time. I have a pattern in mind but it is not felted. How do you determine how to make something felted with a normal pattern?

-I do see a catagory here for felting but no one has posted in it for awhile....any help would be appreciated

[Granny Square]

I haven't done much felting, but recently felted something small by hand until it was the right size.  (I can attest that alpaca felts really quickly--only took a few minutes)  

 

By doing some googling I've seen suggestions to make something 40-50% bigger than the desired size (so like if you want a hat that is 22", make it 30"-ish).  It was suggested to make a swatch with the yarn and stitch you want to use, measure it before and after felting, and do the math to extrapolate it to your project.  I didn't measure my project pre-felting to figure the % change, but you can stop the process at any point.

 

Good luck!

[craftylady1956]

Thank you--i am planning on searching online more