Make A Range of Dolls House Scale Hats with Conical Crowns - Pilgrim's Hats

By Lesley Shepherd, About.com Guide

To totally eliminate the bumps of felt along the point where the brim joins the crown of your hat, remove all the pins except for the original four (two pairs opposite each other) and use these pins to anchor a loop of thread drawn tightly around the base of the crown. As the hat form is tapered, if you don't leave pins in place the thread will slip to the narrow end of the cork form. Removing the pins makes it easier to get the iron down to the base of the hat crown to shrink it to fit. In the photo shown here you can see the thread (and no pins) on the base of the fez or hat without a brim. This photo shows it after all the final bumps have been shrunk out of the tapered felt crown shape by damp pressing. (Yes you can do this!)

• Make Dolls House Felt Hats With Conical Crowns - The Puritan or Pilgrim's Hat
• Forming a Tapered Felt Hat Crown in Dolls House Scales
• Fit the Shrinking Felt Crown To the Cork Hat Form
• Press the Hat Crown Until The Felt Has Shrunk To the Form
• Remove the Pins and Replace them with Thread to Mark the Brim Line
• Press Out the Shape of the Brim on the Puritan's Hat
• Set the Finished Crown of the Puritan, Pilgrim or Leprechaun Hat With PVA Glue
• Finish Your Puritan, Pilgrim, Leprechaun Hat, Shako or Fez