Anyone Know How To Re-shape Felt Hat?

[🪦 Lewis Tully ●]

I have this here hat, and it\'s a new hat, so it\'s pretty much set in it\'s way, and what I\'m trying to do is pinch the front of it to make it tighter, and the two sides that would be where you would grab it, I\'m trying to make them go back farther. I know back in the day Hatters would use Mercury (the stuff in thermometers) to form the felt, but I think that\'s kinda dangerous... Makes ya go crazy. (* That\'s where the phrase "Mad Hatter" came from.) so anyway, if anyone has any other materials that they think I could use, I\'d love to hear any suggestions!!!

JCG

[🪦 travsall ●]

I\'ve reblocked a fedora with great results, so I can lend a hand here. What ya do is get a kettle of water on the stove, and let it boil, once it\'s to a violent boil, open the end cap and place where you want to reshape into the steam. Hold it there for a little bit, you really want the section \'soaked\' in steam, to where it\'s starting to get damp. Then pull it out and pinch the top with your fingers, untill you kinda feel some of the heat leave the felt. Open the pinch back up and put it back in the steam, do the same thing, but this time don\'t reopen the pinch. Do it a third time and direct the steam a little wider out on the hat, to really set the new shape. Squeeze the pinch again untill you feel the heat leave, then let it sit to dry. When you do that, you want to support the hat as much as possible, don\'t set it flat, put it on a stand so it can sit naturally. Let that dry completely, and you\'re set!
I did that to my hat 2 years or so ago, and it\'s in the exact same shape still!

[🪦 Lewis Tully ●]

Sweet! I\'ll give that a shot!!! THanks!

JCG