Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-25
Making a Woman's Hat
From the cIercInnd plain nenIer.


tits top. women's hats are made in
many shapes.
with the braid, of whatever kind It
may be- on a reel at her side, the opera
tor sits at power driven sewing ma
chine. For the very center OF the top
Of the crown she draws the braid
around for two or three turns and sews
It with her own fingers, and then she
starts on the machine; and now under
her expert guidance and manipulation
the top Of the crown expands rapidly.
on table in front of her she has a
block of the shape Of the hat crown she
Is to make-a crown form of this sort is
called a block, and brim form a
lange.
When she has brought the top part
of the crown to nearly the required
diameter she tries It on the block; and
when It Is exactly right she starts
building downward to form the crowns
circular vertical wall, turning down.
ward from the edge of the top with no
other aid than that afforded by her
skilled handling of material and ma
chine. The sides built to the requisite
depth, she tries the crown on the block
again. and as far as its construction Is
concerned the crown is completed.
The brim Of the hat is made in the
same manner. Then crown and brim
go to the sizing room to be sized, or
stiffened, an operation requiring care
and judgment in the preparation Of
the sizing material as well as in the
actual sizing; there are many hats Of
many materials.
Then they go to the drying room,
from which in due time they are
brought out to be steamed on a steam
ing table sufficiently to make them
pliable and workable into their final
perfect shapes and to be fitted then
respectively over blocks and fanges
and then to be ironed, all this work,
the sizing, the blocking and Hanging
and the ironing, being done by men.
The blocks and flanges used are, of
course, of as various and curious
shapes as the various hat crowns and
brims to be shaped and ironed on
them. 1t might seem that it would
be impossible to get block that was
bigger at the top than at the bottom
into hat crown thus shaped, but this
is really accomplished very easily by
making the blocks for crowns of such
shapes In sections.
There are separate rim sections
which can easily be placed in the hat
crown separately, and then there Is
inserted a key block, which holds the
L III oSOllOilS 5GCuISly III anu
makes the whole block practically
solid. The making of hat blocks and
hanges is a business in itself. Hat man.
ufacturers are all the time throwing
away old blocks and f1anges, and as
constantly providing themselves with
new ones in the shapes of the new
fashions.
While many hats are thus shaped
and ironed by hand on wooden blocks
and fianges, some are shaped and
pressed in hydraulic presses, in which
the blocks and flanges are metallic;
and then there are some hat bodies
that are not put into their final shapes
in either of such ways, but which are
sized and finished in the shape of ball
cone, these to be gathered up and
fashioned into their final finished shape
by skilled and artistic designer.
From the irining room after a flnall
drying the hat goes back again to the
women workers, who sew crown and
brim together, If those parts have been
made separately, and who put in the
hats lining and attach a ticket, and
then the hat is ready to be packed for
and ready also for the last
though not least important step in its
evolution, the trimming.
So, however simple In it's finished
shape woman's hat may be, yet it
may have Travelled much, as 1t must
have passed also through many hands
and processes here before it comes TO
rest on its wearer's head, for every hat
has its history.