I attempted to make a felt hat last night. It didn't work.
I was being ambitious, and tried to make it from scratch: laying out the wool fibres, felting them together, shrinking the felt sheet over a bowl, then shrinking it more it over a hatshaper until it was stiff and held it's shape.
Felt Hat making: Hard Lessons Learned no.1
When laying out your wool fibres make sure they are teased out thinly and run in all sorts of different directions. I didn't do this very well and the layers of fibre felted only within their own layers, so I ended up with a sort of 4 ply felt that peeled apart easily. The top layer of felt kept peeling and rolling up like bad sunburn when I was shaping the hat.
Felt Hat Making: Hard lesson learned no.2
Don't be so keen to get it on the hatshaper - let it felt up and stiffen quite a bit first, rolling it lots in your bamboo mat or bubblewrap. It's much quicker and effective than hours and hours of shrinking by hand on the shaper. My hat did eventually shrink to fit, but it took about 3 hours. My hands were like prunes.
Felt Hat Making: Hard lesson learned no.3
If the instructions say 'leave to dry naturally on the hatshaper' then follow this wise advice. My hat was looking a pretty good tight shape (apart for the peeling areas) but then I got impatient and put it in the washing machine for a spin cycle. When I took it out it was lovely and dry, but enormous and more like a Sou'wester than the neat little cloche I had prior to the spin.
There is a good little video of how to do it properly here. Scroll down the the bottom of the page and click on the moving pictures. (Sorry I couldn't get it to link properly.)
I will be trying again tonight, and will let you know if my technique improves. I am determined to make a wearable hat before it gets too warm to wear it.
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3 comments:
I was going to comment on what a strange individual you are, but then I remembered that I am currently spending my spare time trying to perfect my recipe for beetroot foam, and that I need to buy more beetroots on the way home.
Pot kettle etc...
I don't think having unusual hobbies / obsessions makes you a strange person, I think it makes you an interesting person.
I'd rather be in the pub with you discussing the finer points of beetroot foam (whatever that is) than with a boring person discussing what happened on Eastenders.
What is beetroot foam? Is this another desperate attempt to use up the leftovers in your organic veg box?
rach :)
know i'm about a year late on this comment...but did you have success with your felt hat?? i.ve spent the last 3 days making hats and they have all either turned into wonderful placemats(not a hat) or they have shrunk ...my dolls have a wonderful collection of hats...not one for me...yet!!!
beevs x x
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