Western Style Hat

[rfkoen]

Made my first western style hat straight from the Tandy "Hombre" pattern. It seems a bit tall to me, so I'm planning to make the next one with the crown about an inch shorter. This is my first hat using a wire in the brim so the wearer can shape the brim to their choosing (I wet molded my prior hat brims so the wearer was stuck with how I shaped it!) The one issue I ran into with adding the wire was that the wrap around bunched up a bit in places underneath. I think I can alleviate this by cutting some notches out to take up some of the slack that was generated when the edge was folded over. How many notches will I most likely need to smooth this out?

Thanks for any comments or feedback you can provide!

[radar67]

You did well on this hat, it looks good. Not sure about the number of notches you would need to cut, maybe one every inch.

[karlpv]

Looks good. My answer to your notch question is "it depends". But here's some math that may help. Lets say your brim is 11" diameter and you roll over 1/4" to cover the wire. The diameter changes by 1/2", which means the circumference is reduced by about 1 1/2" ((Pi x 11") - (Pi x 10 1/2")). So your notches would need to add up to the 1 1/2". If you used equal sided triangles of the 1/4" hem depth for your notches, you'd need about five to make up the 1 1/2". Clear as mud?

[Samalan]

No notches skive the edge just a bit half inch or so then ease the edge by fourths or eigthly one at at a time and that will give you a nice clean edge try a scrap rad first hope this helps.

[rfkoen]

For karlpv, the math does help! I hadn't thought in terms of being able to calculate the circumference reduction needed. For samalan, I did skive the edge to make it easier to fold it over and glue it in place before sewing. I guess I'm not seeing how I can do that fold over and reduce the wrinkles without some notches. Can you go a little deeper with your explanation because it has my brain working overtime right now LOL!

[Samalan]

Sorry divide the total circumference by 8 then work each eighth one at a time constantly pushing one way like your making a thousand little wrinkles practice on scrap with the same radius and length of one eighth leave some extra to hold on to.

[rfkoen]

Thanks Samalan! That makes more sense to me now. I will give that a try!

[Samalan]

I just did a 3'' Rad just to be sure using 4 oz vegtan with 3oz liner stitched with 277 thread and it looks good no wrinkles hope it works for you if not i will send you a pic of the sample.

[Wild Bill46]

The hat and wearer look nice !