Hat and Hat-making. 1. Combing the felt oli a velour. 2. Laying a seam in a silk hat. 3. Sewing on the brims of 



straw hats. 4. Scratching felt for imitation velours. Respirators are necessary on account of flying hairs and dust 



5. Blocking felt hats. 6. Making and covering bodies of the Sandringham hat 



carefully shaped to suit the pre- 

 vailing fashion by- means of 

 wooden blocks, and the silk 

 plush, whence the name and glossy 

 appearance are derived, is skil- 

 fully sewn on. 



Felt hats are made by dropping 

 rabbit fur, wool, or mixture of 

 fur and wool upon a spinning- 

 cone, and by playing upon the 

 cone jets of acidulated water, 

 causing the hairs to felt together. 

 When the process has proceeded 

 far enough, the V-shaped hood thus 

 formed is removed and " planked " 

 by hand or machine to consolidate 

 the felting. The hood is rubbed 

 for this purpose between grooved 

 surfaces, and the felt is then firm 

 enough to be dyed and prepared 

 by successive stages to the shape 

 in which the hat .is to be worn. 

 The hard felt or bowler hat is 

 stiffened in a spirit solution of 

 shellac. The soft felt hats are 

 stiffened only with, water- paste. 



In England the hatting industry 

 is carried on most largely at and 

 near Stockport and in Nuneaton. 

 There is strong competition from 

 felt hats made in Italy. 

 Straw Hats 



The making of straw hats is an 

 industry that has never been sys- 

 tematically organized in England, 

 although none has increased more 

 rapidly and in none has the char- 

 acter changed more. Formerly 

 the straw plaits from which hats 

 are formed were made at Luton, 

 Dunstable, and other English 

 centres, but now the majority are 



imported, although certain coarse 

 straw plaits are still made in Eng- 

 land. Braids of fine straw mixed 

 with bright artificial silk are made 

 in Leek for the use of hat manu- 

 facturers, and great possibilities in 

 hat decorations are anticipated by 

 the manufacture of this material. 



The best plaits are those from 

 corn straw, and next come those 

 from hemp. Makers still depend 

 on Switzerland for the best picot 

 tagel, which is of hemp extraction. 

 There is, however, an inferior 

 quality which comes from Japan. 

 Italy is the birthplace of the best 

 pedal straw plait ; in that country 

 corn is cultivated specially for the 

 stalks, the grain being atrophied. 

 Certain chips and yeddahs like- 

 wise come from Italy. 



The plaits are imported into 

 England in their natural state, 

 and are then sent to be dyed or 

 bleached. A few manufacturers 

 for the highest class trade arrange 

 to reserve certain shades for 

 special clients, and some do their 

 own dyeing. The sewing cotton 

 used to stitch the hats is dyed in 

 lengths of 5,000 or 10,000 yds. to 

 match the straw. The first work 

 of the dyer is to bleach the plaits 

 intended for light shades or for 

 white with peroxide of hydrogen. 



The straw hat manufacturer 

 employs blocks of the shape of 

 the hat, and sews the plaits upon 

 them by the aid of sewing ma- 

 chines. Two types of machines 

 are used in converting the plaits 

 into hat shapes. For the more 



expensive hats a machine is used 

 which sews a concealed stitch, 

 while hats of the cheaper sort are 

 made on a machine which leaves 

 the stitching clearly visible. The 

 block is placed beside the skilled 

 worker, who stitches to fit the 

 block. Frequently " slopes," cor- 

 responding to a gore in a dress, 

 have to be inserted. As soon as 

 the shape is completed it has to be 

 stiffened, and is dispatched to a 

 room to undergo treatment with 

 a special preparation of gelatin. 

 Later the shapes are steamed, 

 shaped to the block, and ironed. 



The cheaper hats are shaped by 

 hydraulic pressure. In making 

 buckram shapes for hat founda- 

 tions, the buckram is bought in 

 24-yard rolls and cut into the shape 

 desired. An aluminium or spelter 

 block is used in pressing. The 

 former is a modern invention and 

 a great improvement, for while it 

 can stand any amount of heat, it 

 is extremely light in weight. 



Genuine panama hats are im- 

 ported from Colombia in plateau 

 form, and are blocked in England. 

 Otranto or simulated panama, 

 made of paper, comes from Japan. 

 Before the Great War, velour hats 

 were largely imported from Aus- 

 tria, where the manufacture 

 reached a high pitch of excellence. 

 They now come from Paris and the 

 north of England. The best 

 velours are made of hare fur and 

 dyed before being converted into 

 hoods, thus obviating a white line 

 at the edges when they are cut. 



