What is your favorite hat crease?

[Matt Deckard]

Some preliminary shots for the Golden era... I'll take better ones.. soon. The diamond crease is hard to make out... what do you think?

Open

Center creased

Center crease with front pinch creases

Center crease with side creases

Diamond crease

Teardrop crease

Porkpie

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Those look terrific, Matt ... and the models ain't bad, either!

.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Good I'll model them in the next set... when I have a cameraman and sunlight

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Looking forward to it! Beautiful hats!

.

 

[ideaguy]

creases

nice shots,thank you. do you have any advice for someone with a Jiffy
steamer, a few hats, and the need to make good-looking diamond & teardrop
creases? I hear tell there's aids to help without having to own blocks-I want to
do it by hand and not have them look lumpy. any hints?

 

[Mulceber]

yeah, they are really nice. Great hats, and very informative to people new to the forum. -Mulceber

 

[Matt Deckard]

All those creases shown were done by hand... I go old school. Back in the 20's and 30's and most of the hats were sold open crowned and shaped by hand.
Selling them preshaped or as some catalogs in the 50's refer to it, preblocked in a certain shape came later.

=MKD=

 

[Visigoth]

That diamond crease... does it have a dome in the middle? Or is it just a cross?

 

[Matt Deckard]

cross.. I'll get a top view.

Though it does depend on if your head hits the crown.

 

[tonyb]

All those creases showen were done by hand... I go old school. Back in the 20's and 30's and most of the 04's, hats were sold open crowned and shaped by hand.
Selling them preshaped or as some catalogs in the 50's refer to it, preblocked in a certain shape came later.

=MKD=

Yup. A trip through old photo archives clearly verifies Matt's observation. You bought 'em, you pinched 'em. Or had the sales clerk do it for you.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I think hats have a lot more personality when they are bashed by hand like Matt has done. Most factory creases are too "perfect" sort of like a clip-on tie.

 

[qwerty]

I actualy wanted to make a thread about this subject asking for some expert's advice. And this came just like orderd.
Are these all sorts of creases that can be done to a hat, or are there more?

 

[Feraud]

The diamond crease looks great!
Those are a good group of reference shots of the different styles.
Thanks for posting them.

 

[Razzman]

Informative indeed! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap Thanks for posting the pictures.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Thanks Matt!

... tell me though, what block(s) do you have to achive the initial open crown?

 

[gekisai29]

You learn something new every day. I'm thrilled to find out i can try to handshape without it looking totally wrong.

 

[NewMexExpat]

Same hat?

Thanks for doing this Matt, very nice. Were all but the Teardrop done on the same hat? And, if so, did you steam them in between each shape, or just pop it open and rebash?

By the way, I had been meaning to compliment you on your previous avatar - good looking hat, and a very nice picture of you.

Regards,

- Mark

 

[Matt Deckard]

Thanks... and they are all just hand shaped, no steam.

 

[thefedorastore]

... tell me though, what block(s) do you have to achive the initial open crown?

An open crown is the easiest. Just steam and pop the crown up, continue to steam any remaining crease marks and press from both sides of the felt with your fingers. To get the smooth ridge around the outside on the teardrop and porkpie, steam and run your finger tip inside the crease, pushing out the dimples. Run your fingertip back and forth while it cools.

D

 

[DOUGLAS]

Those are beautiful hats and great examples of hand shaping. I am partial to the center crease. You have a nice touch.