Yet another birthday present, this time for my big brother. He has a round birthday and I had to come up with something to give to a man that doesn’t need anything. But does he really have everything? No. He doesn’t have a red top hat!
He is playing the saxophone in a band, and is often wearing red leather shoes while on stage. What could be better than making something that compliments his stage persona?
This is not my own design, but is based on a pattern from Tony See. I chose to use 2mm thick vegetable tanned shoulder from Italy, well knowing that it might be a risk considering how stiff it can be to invert after stitching. It turned out fine, but it was still very tricky to invert.
I haven’t taken pictures of all the steps as I usually do, but the important parts should be covered.
The hat is nice and stiff, but still light enough to actually wear comfortably.I didn’t line the entire inside, but added soft goat skin on the bottom of the brim and also as a sweatband.Even the spade/skull conchos look great!The hat looks amazing and can be seen on the upcoming gigs of Riot Mamas!
(Mini) Build Log
I actually ended up buying a whole double shoulder to be able to make this. There weren’t too many pre-dyed hides available for fast shipping, so ended up buying a good one. I’m sure that I can use the remainder for some nice bags later on…The cylinder is sewn together with a triple stitch.The top required some negotiating to fit in, but the stitch holes matched perfectly with some help from my clamps.Inverting the top was a total pain. I left it like this for nearly 4 days so the edge become nice and sharp. I moved the clamps around every now and then so there are no marks from the edges.This is how the inside looks like this. I’m also planning to glue in a tag with my maker’s mark, but I’ll do that first later after the top has had a chance to settle.I decided to use a 2mm TIG welding rod as a reinforcement on the brim. My longest rods were able to reach around the entire brim, and I TIG welded the ends together. For the piping around the brim, I used the same leather but skived it down with a third of the thickness. It’s still quite thick, but I didn’t want to take the risk of ruining it.This was the most demanding part of the entire project. I spent hours on stitching it as there wasn’t an easy way of inserting the needle all the way through. Saddle stitch all the way around, one hole at the time.The piping was still too thick to overlap, so I cut it even and added a patch that covers the seam.Attaching the brim to the top. Here you can see the goat skin I used to line it with. I bricked the holes to the red vegetable tanned top first, glued the lining, and finally re-bricked the holes so they reach through the lining as well. Preparing the belt that goes around the top. To make sure that it covers the space all the way down to the brim, I used a smaller buckle and cut reliefs to the belt. Now the total width is the same for the strap as it is for the buckle. The maker’s mark tag is glued in place. The belt is also attached all the way through to the inside of the hat with the Chicago screws of the spade/skull conchos. Ready belt. To make sure that the end of the belt is not sticking out, I riveted it in place with a black rivet.Ready!Here you can see how the belt is the same thickness throughout and sits nicely on the bottom of the top.I’m happy how smooth the leather is even after the hard-handed inversion after stitching. As a final detail I added a sweatband from the same goat skin I used for lining the bottom. Now it’s much nicer to wear.I’m very happy how it turned out considering that it is the first proper hat I’ve made.The man himself is already rocking his sax and the hat!The hat got a stand that is almost like it was made for it. An overview of all the tools I used for this project. The gift was well received and very well fitting.
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