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DAVID MC GIRR

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Loose Screws: Make your own tricorner hat

Tue May 20, 2008 8:06 PM EDT
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By David Mc Girr

My hat model, with the original hat

Marking the centres

Lining up the brim and crown, making the cut

A finished tricorner hat

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Ever wanted your own tricorner hat but don't want to pay those extortionate civil war re-enaction stockists prices?
Well I wanted one on the cheap too, so I decided to have a bash at it.

It all started when I bought a hat sight-unseen. I asked my friend to pick me up a fedora, he obliged, and I payed him for it later. It was a gift for my brother but upon seeing it he was less than extatic. The hat (modelled left) lay unworn for several weeks, and it seemed a shame to let it go to waste. After several hours of mooching around online I saw a tricorner hat on sale for extortionate civil-war supplier prices!

Then it hit me... I'll make one. I started out with a dry run, bending the brim up to find a good position. The brim of this hat is unwired, and as a result doesn't keep its shape very well. It never kept its position as a fedora, or a cowboy hat, so it was perfect for modifying.
I marked the middle of where the three points of the hat would land, and then marked middle point between those to get the location of the staple. I had planned on using a staple, so the hat could be held together practically unnoticeably, but seeing as my staples were too short to pass through all the material, my hat model suggested I used brass split pins.

To make the brass split pins fit I used my scalpel to... what? It's legal to own a scalpel for hat crafting purposes.
...used the scalpel to cut a slit in the brim, and a corresponding hole in the side of the crown.
Split pin in, and there you go, one side is attached. If you just wanted one side of your hat held up then you could stop at this point.

But I persevered, repeated the process and then ended up with my very own tricorner hat. Make sure the hat you begin with has a nice wide brim so it comes up to over half way on the crown when you pin it, and if the brim is wired it may be hard to get the shape you want without removing the wire.

Cost of original hat: 15 pounds
Split pins: ....i dunno, fractions of a cent each?

Possibly coming soon: A fashion primer... guess what it might be about.

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David Mc Girr

Top Hat, Cowboy hat, various other nondescript hats, and now a tricorner.
The collection is getting bigger every day.

-Dave

  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Tue May 20, 2008 8:16 PM EDT
ffeineandsugar

This one is really cool. I'll start prowling goodwill in about three weeks, when I've finished with the kids for the school year. Sounds easy enough. And I found a really nice pattern for a colonial shirt at Joann Fabrics, so maybe that US History lesson this year will take on some added zing....

  • 1 vote
Reply#2 - Tue May 20, 2008 11:32 PM EDT
David Mc Girr

I love prowling the charity shops, you can get some real bargins.
In fact, I might do an article of all the nice @!$%# I've picked up over the years, or even go to Coleraine in Northern Ireland, which is well packed out with charity shops, and make a day of it.
-Dave

  • 1 vote
#2.1 - Fri May 23, 2008 4:51 AM EDT
Reply
Tamh

Good one Dave!

I am enjoying reading the articles that come to Loose Screws :o)

I might be inspired!!

  • 2 votes
Reply#3 - Wed May 21, 2008 5:35 AM EDT
David Mc Girr

Anything I can do to be of service... I suggest you start cobboling together any old stuff you have, you can make some nice new @!$%# for cheap. And hey... won't you be the dogs bollocks when you walk into the local wearing a tricorner hat?

-Dave

  • 3 votes
#3.1 - Fri May 23, 2008 4:49 AM EDT
Tamh

Absolutely :)

Your service to the art of making is most appreciated!

  • 1 vote
#3.2 - Fri May 23, 2008 10:34 PM EDT
Reply
vacelts

Very nice hat. I live in Virginia where there's lots of colonial history and cheap souvenirs (if you know where to look). But I'll file this one away for a rainy day craft with the kids.

  • 2 votes
Reply#4 - Wed May 21, 2008 8:32 AM EDT
David Mc Girr

Might you divulge your secrets re: the cheap shops?
Loose Screws would love to hear about them.

-Dave

  • 2 votes
#4.1 - Fri May 23, 2008 4:53 AM EDT
Reply
Walt D

....and now your sister is well-dressed to take up arms against the British. Good job.

  • 3 votes
Reply#5 - Wed May 21, 2008 10:56 AM EDT
David Mc Girr

One should always remain well dressed when fighting the British,
even if all you have is a sharp stick and no feeling in your torso.

-Dave

  • 3 votes
#5.1 - Fri May 23, 2008 4:44 AM EDT
Reply
waterfall

Great job. You are quite resourceful! but..... that is NOT a scalpel , no matter how much you'd like it to be, s'just not.

*whispers, pats you on head*
*it's an exacto knife*

  • 3 votes
Reply#6 - Wed May 21, 2008 11:00 AM EDT
David Mc Girr

Right so. False representation of a product it is.
*Goes off to write strongly worded letter*

-Dave

  • 3 votes
#6.1 - Fri May 23, 2008 4:39 AM EDT
Reply
Jared Kardos

Awesome. I'd totally make one, go to England, and calling them all "Redcoat scum." I'd probably get arrested for it, but God it'd be worth it. :D

  • 2 votes
Reply#7 - Thu May 22, 2008 2:05 PM EDT
David Mc Girr

Given today's British education system, most of them would simply inform you that their coat was not red, it was "addidas", and promptly tell you to fornicate yourself with an iron pipe.
...I conjectured this notion to a guy, I have cleaned up his response for your reading pleasure.

-Dave

  • 1 vote
#7.1 - Fri May 23, 2008 4:47 AM EDT
Jared Kardos

And given today's American education system, I wouldn't have quite known that. :O

  • 1 vote
#7.2 - Fri May 23, 2008 9:27 AM EDT
Reply
David Mc Girr

Quick mention, my internet is down at home, and using this internet cafe is like paying for a one legged prostitute.... sure it works and everything... but it isn't very stylish, and you always feel overcharged.

I'm still alive, but internet access will be very limited.

-Dave

  • 1 vote
Reply#8 - Fri May 23, 2008 4:55 AM EDT
Jared Kardos

That is an epic metaphor, sir. :D

  • 1 vote
#8.1 - Fri May 23, 2008 9:28 AM EDT
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