Shortening The Crown On A Tandy Top Hat Pattern?

[Gawdzilla]

I have a request to make a Tandy Top Hat from the 2062 pack that has a crown 3/4-2/3 as tall. I know that just dropping the edge down and tracing a new line will not properly transfer the holes. My only thought at this time is to draw many radius lines and disperse the holes proportionally. Anybody got a better idea on how to do that?

Photo of the pattern can be uploaded if you want to see the crown, btw.

[Luke Hatley]

What i would do is lay the crown pattern out and cut out of the center of the pattern from left to right the amount you want to lower the crown and then tape it back together,

the top and where the crown attaches to the brim remains the same.

[Gawdzilla]

What i would do is lay the crown pattern out and cut out of the center of the pattern from left to right the amount you want to lower the crown and then tape it back together,

the top and where the crown attaches to the brim remains the same.

Problem with that is there's a dog-leg in the sides when you do it that way. I fought it out this afternoon and got it to work. I made a copy of the crown pattern and counted down 7 holes (out of 20). I put the old pattern on the new one at that point, making sure the overlap on each side was equal (1/2 inch in this case on each side.) Then I marked the new top of the pattern. All I had to do then was link the top line with the bottom one and transfer the holes from the old pattern. Fits just fine.

Caveat: Those measurements are for the large Aristocrat, medium and small will have less overlap, I think.

If I do it again I'll go with 10 holes rather than 12. There's not enough difference between a full-scale crown and this shorter one for me. Again, your mileage may vary.

[Gawdzilla]

Okay, that worked. Here's the shortened version of the Aristocrat pattern.

[Gawdzilla]

With a temporary band. The final one will be smaller, of course.

[Luke Hatley]

a fine looking Hat, you did a great job on it.

will the new hat band have the stones on it ?

[radar67]

Photo of the pattern can be uploaded if you want to see the crown, btw.

I would like to see the pattern, looks like an interesting project. The modified hat in your picture looks good. Have you noticed any issues with the brim not being stiff enough?

[Gawdzilla]

a fine looking Hat, you did a great job on it.

will the new hat band have the stones on it ?

I'm going to Michael's and see what they have for that hat. Those are from the necklace section, you can get whole strings of tiger's eye and such for a reasonable price there. That band in the picture is a swap out band I wear when the cobra skin band isn't appropriate.

I would like to see the pattern, looks like an interesting project. The modified hat in your picture looks good. Have you noticed any issues with the brim not being stiff enough?

I'll get a picture of it with the original crown pattern in the same picture for comparison. Give me a couple of hours. The brim is really firm. You have to follow the pattern and use two layers of leather. I think from now on I won't glue them together until I have the brim attached to the crown, it's a lot easier to lace up that way.

[Gawdzilla]

Okay, here's the picts. I'm posting URLs because their about 5 meg apiece.

ibiblio.org/pha/LWF/DSCN4168.JPG

ibiblio.org/pha/LWF/DSCN4169.JPG

I put the second one up because of the old curved line optical illusion. The top and bottom lines are exactly the same length on each pattern.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Gawdzilla

[radar67]

Thanks for the pictures Gawdzilla. Optical illusions can be confusing at times.

[Gawdzilla]

Thanks for the pictures Gawdzilla. Optical illusions can be confusing at times.

That one is a doozy. A certain photo interpretation school that I never went to used it on day one to show students they can't trust their own brains.

[Nod4Eight]

Nice job. I was going to suggest taking the top and bottom diameters and halving them, then measuring that out from the middle with the desired height between them - the arc should remain the same from pattern to pattern.

I've never made a hat before, what kind and weight of leather did you use there?

[Gawdzilla]

Nice job. I was going to suggest taking the top and bottom diameters and halving them, then measuring that out from the middle with the desired height between them - the arc should remain the same from pattern to pattern.

I've never made a hat before, what kind and weight of leather did you use there?

That's 3-4 oz. throughout. I've used a mix, 2-3 for the top and both brims and 3-4 for the crown. I did one that was camo'd and I used camo cloth for the top. A nice way to ventilate and save weight at the same time.

The next one will have horns.

[Gawdzilla]

One more note on this. The top of my head is a mere fraction of an inch from the top when it set properly on my head. This is a factor when you decide how short to make it, you don't want somebody's hat looking like a dixie cup on an beer bottle.

[Nod4Eight]

I'm interested in making a hat like this now. Being new to this site I am collecting a lot of new projects I want to work on - just what I need - more projects! Where can I find patterns for a hat like that?

[Gawdzilla]

I'm interested in making a hat like this now. Being new to this site I am collecting a lot of new projects I want to work on - just what I need - more projects! Where can I find patterns for a hat like that?

Well, the legendary Tandy 2062 Pattern Pak is rare as hen's teeth. You have to know somebody that has one and see if they'll make you a copy.

[Nod4Eight]

Well, the legendary Tandy 2062 Pattern Pak is rare as hen's teeth. You have to know somebody that has one and see if they'll make you a copy.

Thanks for the info. Tandy 2062 will get me headed in the right direction. I'll see what I can do from there.

[Gawdzilla]

Thanks for the info. Tandy 2062 will get me headed in the right direction. I'll see what I can do from there.

If all else fails, send me a PM.

[Gawdzilla]

One additional note on making the top hats. I tried a cheat that worked rather well. Tandy says to glue the upper and lower brim together before lacing it to the crown. I decided to not do it that way. It was easier to do the lower lacing without that second piece already in place. When I got that done I put the hat on a piece of leather with 1/2 inch of excess inside and out and glued that in place. (I kept the recommendation that you leave 1/2 inch of unglued leather on the inside in case the hat needs the lacing replaced.) Then I trimmed the excess off after the glue had set. After you get some experience on this you can reduce the excess.

BTW, I added a one inch strip of suede to the lower lacing so people could add padding if they didn't have perfect fit or their hair style changed (by choice or by nature) after they had the hat for a while. I used the lower edge of the crown pattern to get the holes right. You can used more than one strip of suede if you don't have one long enough, but try to avoid putting a seam where the forehead will be . (You can also use this for a "sweat band" on your hats. "Waterproof" the leather behind the band and sweat won't soak through as readily.)

[Gawdzilla]

This came out very good, better than I had hoped. Here's the final version. The crown is taller than the Maverick hat, but the brim is much narrower.