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FELT SPECIAL


by Leanne Fredrick


The journey of becoming a hatter or milliner is fraught with failures, but the excitement at a well done hat, or a rough first hat, is rewarding. For many milliners and hatters, there is a great deal of joy in working with the texture of felt and the feeling of how it conforms to shapes with heat, moisture and manipulation. It isn’t all stabby and scratchy like working with some plant fibres.


In this article we will look at different types of natural felt hat bodies made with wool or fur, with a focus on fur and an eye toward innovation.


felt


“Felt strictly speaking is a fabric manufactured by matting the fibres together, without the preliminary operation of either spinning or of weaving,” says John Thomson in his book ‘A Treatise on Hat-Making And Felting’, published in 1868. The history of felt making goes back millennia. It is believed to have originated before woven cloth and was used for clothing and shelter. The process consists of the tangling of scaled fibres such as wool and fur that when layered and agitated with heat, moisture and often soap (the alkali of the soap causes the scales to open) bind together into a material that is both dense and flexible. This process can be done by hand (or foot) and in modern factories with the benefit of machines.


Natural hat-making felt is made from wool or fur. This article will not address synthetic or plant-based felt, with the exception of an exciting innovation toward synthetic and plant-based hat


november 2022 | 45


A closer look at


felts led by a milliner. In addition, three tables offer a quick reference for fur quality, size and weight categories, and finishing and texture labels, with some final tips and tricks regarding working with felt (e.g. it is easier to pull and shape a fur felt than a wool felt).


We thank the following hatters, milliners and hat body supply companies who shared some of their knowledge, ideas and photos for this article: Pierre Huvet of Oddchap Hats in Chantilly, (France); Kiriko Sato of Kiriko Sato in Paris (France); Tim Mahovich of Pure Beaver Hat Supply in Pennsylvania (USA); William Horsman of the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers in London (UK); and Willee Roberts of Sunrise Hat Supplies in California (USA).


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