Finishing the Felt Cavalier Hat

Another hat down!

Previously



After the felt had dried and I weighed down the brim with wood for a couple of days, I sized the hat to make it unlikely to move. Because of the sizing, I didn't need to put in a headband.

The first thing I did was to find a length of fabric and twist in into a cord. This was wrapped around the crown and tacked on.

Then I got out my feathers. I glued several feathers into half as many longer feathers and stiffened the back with a glue called Sobo and a piece of millinery wire.

After that had dried, I gathered up all the feathers and wrapped wire around the bottom. I supported this with thread by poking through the mass of feather spine and glue a few times. I have since been informed that one should never put a needle through the spine of a feather because it weakens the feather.

I tacked this onto the left side of the hat by going through that mass of feather spines and around the bundle a few times. The feathers were lying flatter than I had wanted but it still looks good.

I cocked up the left side of the hat and stitched it to the crown. I may pull that out and re-do it with black thread later.