Akubra Overload

[ShadowXY]

I wore it with my hair up to add some padding in back. Kind of nice to have one if you want to wear a hair accessory under the hat I guess unintentional but it's such a nice hat.

I found one with dimensions closer to my hat size.

Looks like 6.25 X 7.5 inch = 13.75 so a small 7/56?

Had an idea how to get the hat size of the boss in circumference. The hat Jack on the shark got up to 21 7/8 inch.

I set the hatjack into the Boss with a flexible measure tape & got the circumference of 23 inches so it's 1 inch more circumference than a Sz 7.

I've requested a return on the L X W but now I have the circumference I can confidently size the hat as 23 in or full 7 1/4 / Sz 58 which likely was a 59 snugged down a half size over time or even more.

Hat is a full 7 1/4 or Sz 58 at this time & likelihood of it shrinking down to a size 7 by shrinking & heat now doesn't seem like a good chance or wise.

I'll send the new info as the seller has not responded & has until July 11th before the bay steps in.

 

[ShadowXY]

6.75 + 8 = 14.75/2 = 7.375
Size 7-3/8

You were really close & it might have shrunken a bit that day I wore it in the heat & sweated.

It's currently a Sz 7 1/4+ / 23 inch circumfrence. (bet originally a 59 or 60)

I found a pretty good way to keep the tape held against the hat to get a accurate measure.

 

[RickP]

Ive sucessfully enlarged a few Akubras 2 full sizes over the years... obviously take it slow, but theyre pretty tough hats and hard to mess up. Personally if Im trying to go that much larger, I remove the leather sweatband before stretching. Sometimes you can add a leather spacer piece to open up the sweatband and reuse it if in new condition. If theres any indication of strain on the sweat stitches or dry leather, Id say go ahead and make up a nice new sweatband that fits you well, and then stretch the hat until it fits in without causing wrinkles in the sweatband sides. $15-20 is on a new one is worth it. Learning how to sew in a sweatband is a good skill to have!

 

[ShadowXY]

Ive sucessfully enlarged a few Akubras 2 full sizes over the years... obviously take it slow, but theyre pretty tough hats and hard to mess up. Personally if Im trying to go that much larger, I remove the leather sweatband before stretching. Sometimes you can add a leather spacer piece to open up the sweatband and reuse it if in new condition. If theres any indication of strain on the sweat stitches or dry leather, Id say go ahead and make up a nice new sweatband that fits you well, and then stretch the hat until it fits in without causing wrinkles in the sweatband sides. $15-20 is on a new one is worth it. Learning how to sew in a sweatband is a good skill to have!

I can sew somewhat but never really sewed leather. I suppose you have to pin it in place on the liner inside out & I have a old Singer Fashionmate I could try to fire up or do it by hand. Not really more than 2 feet of sewing.

Never thought about replacing a sweatband but it's good to know as leather dries out especially on a 30 years old hat,

I should have used the small Hat Jack first but I only had a Medium at the time which come in at about 21 7/8 all the way down. I only think I took it back to it's original 55 by one size. Oh well next time I have a small hat Jack so I can tune up the band in smaller increments...

Thanks

 

[RickP]

I can sew somewhat but never really sewed leather. I suppose you have to pin it in place on the liner inside out & I have a old Singer Fashionmate I could try to fire up or do it by hand. Not really more than 2 feet of sewing.

Never thought about replacing a sweatband but it's good to know as leather dries out especially on a 30 years old hat,

I should have used the small Hat Jack first but I only had a Medium at the time which come in at about 21 7/8 all the way down. I only think I took it back to it's original 55 by one size. Oh well next time I have a small hat Jack so I can tune up the band in smaller increments...

Thanks

Sewing a new sweatband isnt hard .. just a bit labor intensive. if you fit the sweatband to your head first, and then do any stretching on the crown so it just drops into place, its pretty simple. Biggest lesson I learned is to tack it into place with a basting stitch right where the reeded edge meets the crown opening, so it doesnt walk around on you. Baste it in place, then fold the liner out and sew the reed tape in on the inside. It takes a few hats to learn how to get sweatband stitches straight and even, but just remember that once sewn in place the hatband will cover up any wonky stitching... youll be the only one that knows. Search around on here and there are some decent postings about how to sew a sweatband in. Just pick up some john James millnery needles and be ready to ***** your fingers a few times (maybe make your first hat or two a brown or black and not a silverbelly so you dont have to learn spot removal and hat cleaning too lol)

Id LOVE to pick up one of the old singers with the 30 degree head for sewing sweatbands ( I do leatherwork so I can think of all sorts of projects I could use it on, but at a minimum of $1500 its a pretty low priority right now. You COULD do it with any decent cylinder arm machine, but a straight head maching can really get away from you pretty quickly.It really needs the angled head. I did one by machine and went back to hand sewing. My first hand sew took about 4 hours and involved a fair bit of blood, but once i put on reading glasses and started using a thimble and needle nose pliers, I can do one start to finish in an hour now.

There are several etsy sellers that make sweatbands already sized, but im midway in between 58/59 so I just buy the "blanks that are finished and have the reed and reed tape sewn in ( just need to trim, size, and sew the ends together... my little singer heavy duty does just fine in thin sweatband leather for sewing a zig zag across the ends)

Good luck and have fun.. I have confidence in you