Sweatband shape

[Lieckio]

Hey everyone

Not an expert hat maker here or anything along those lines, I am a prop maker for films etc., and I am currently having to reproduce few hats for a film.

I've made patterns for the hat and sewn a few together, but I am having a bit of a trouble with the sweatband shape.

I have an original hat that I am reproducing but I can't take it apart. The sweatband is really simple in these hats, it's just a cut piece of thin pigskin which is then sewn to the hat with a single straight stitch about 3mm from the edge.

However, in my testing I used a simple, straight cut piece of leather, 2cm wide. This doesn't give me an ideal fit to the hat, there is some wrinkling on to the top which is not ideal. The problem seems to sort itself out with a bit of wear, but is nowhere near professional look that the hat should have.

I browsed google furiously and watched some clips from Youtube, which showed people essentially having a precut, curved patterning tool they used for the sweatband. From my understanding, the longer edge of the curved sweatband will be sewn to the hat and the shorter end will be the "top" of the sweatband.

Now my real question is how I would go about figuring the curve I need for the hat? The videos seem to show panama hats and fedoras etc., which are fairly round in their shape so a constant curve is great for them. The hat I am making has a slightly different curve (sample picture is attached). Does this have any effect on the curve? A constant curve is enough? What would be the ideal curve and how can I figure that out?

[mikesc]

From the shape you have, looks like you are looking for what was / is called a "little Joe" Stetson type. The longer edge is indeed sewn to the hat. One way to get around the problem that you have, is to make the sweat band from a circle of smooth textile "ribbon" ( use a fairly stiff version ) about one and a half to one and three quarter inches wide..the length is dependent on the hat size.Then turn over and make a quarter inch "hem" ( make it neat, you are going to be threading a ribbon into and all around it later ) on the side that you will not be sewing to the hat. Sew the sweat band into a loop ( circle ) by sewing the ends together, but stop short just before the hem edge, so as to leave the "hem" edge unsewn, so that you can pass a quarter inch ribbon all around it and back out again ( like a draw cord ) leave about 2 inches of this ribbon surplus at each end of the hem ( because you are going to use them to tie a bow there later ).

Now sew the side of your "sweat band" without the "draw ribbon" to your hat, ( most comfortable way for the hat wearer, is to sew it into place exactly as it would be if being worn, ( flat against the "inside" as opposed to "hanging outside" and then inverted, if you do the latter, you get a hard uncomfortable seam in there, right where it will press ) all around the inside of the hat, right up close to the join between the hat "head part" and the brim ( some hats, particularly felt hats don't have a seam there because they are made from one piece that is "formed", but some do have a join ) .When it is attached all the way around, pull on the "drawstrings" to make that edge of the sweatband slightly smaller and thus it will "fit" and hold..You could use elastic here instead, if so, don't stretch it more than say 10% or 15% when fitting, or it will be uncomfortable.

When it fits, either tie off the elastic ( neater is to sew the ends flat together ) or tie a bow in the drawstring ribbon and iron it flat so that it doesn't press against the skull.When you sew the sweatband in, do so so that the bow would be at the back and centre, where any extra seaming would be cushioned from the skull by the hair.
No hair?
Iron the bow flatter :)

HTH

ps..this is how the "Little Joes" from Eddy bros are done...I have some right here.

To size for a hat, measure around the skull , one inch above the ears, and with the tape higher at the front of the head than the back ( needs to be below the round part of the skull at the back and about halfway up the forehead( ish *) at the front.

*depends on how low you like to wear your hats.

There are probably posts here about Stetson style hat making.
try searching ( copy and paste the next line complete into search engine of your choice and hit enter )for

site: leatherworker.net Stetson

Edited January 17, 2018 by mikesc

[motocouture]

@mikesc, as always, yours posts are admirably detailed and impeccably written 

The only other thought that occurred to me was using grosgrain ribbon instead of textile, of a similar width to the hemmed textile. As long as you use proper grosgrain ribbon, usually in cotton or rayon, it can be stretched and pressed using plenty of steam (regular iron) into a curved shaped so that one edge is longer than the other, then sewn into the hat per above. For speed and ease of adjustment though, I’m guessing it’s not nearly as easy as the method mikesc outlined. 

Link to Britex Fabrics for sample grosgrain:

https://www.britexfabrics.com/ribbon/petersham-grosgrain-ribbon/ivory-vanilla-rayon-petersham-grosgrain-ribbon.html

 

[Lieckio]

Unfortunately I can't do this in the elaborate and nice fashion as you describe (even though if this was an original hat I was making, this would definitely be the approach I'd take). I have to make an exact repro of original type of a hat, similar to the type I've posted a picture of below.

The originals have a simple, pigskin sweatband with no fancy edging and just simply sewn directly to the hat. Probably because for a military hat a fancy look is not something you are looking for, but cheap and quick alternative I imagine...

However, your explanation is excellent on the process and I'll see if I can add some sensible tags to this post for future reference (and for myself to remember in case I ever get the opportunity to make one).

Meanwhile, any ideas or hints how to figure out the needed curvature? I imagine it could be done in autocad by drawing two lines, with a 90 degree angles on the "height" on the longer edge and then shortening the other for a certain amount (1cm? 2cm?)... hmm..

 

 

 

[JHobbs]

This might be to simplistic, but couldn't you take a length of material the dimensions of the sweat band cut to the longest length (which seems like the bottom edge, place it on your head (or who's ever head the hat fits).  Then pinch the extra length, pin it with a straight pin.  I would then cut off the excess sew it, check for fit.  Once corrected now you have a piece you can use for a stencil. Sometimes a piece of string works the best, I have seen woodworkers do amazing things with just string as a measuring tool. 

 

 

[Lieckio]

While that would indeed give me a rough estimate on the lenghts, I am not sure if I could get the curve correct... except perhaps with trying a few times.

The result I am talking about can be seen in this video: