Gyro Hat Sort of Tutorial
Reposting on my new blog and also fixing a bit of my wording/clarifying stuff.
I was asked so here it sort of is! I’m not the best at tutorials so feel free to ask me for clarification.
PLEASE NOTE: Leather work in an expensive hobby, time consuming and dangerous. Please exercise caution when working with these tools. All my supplies are from Tandy Leather unless stated otherwise.
At this point in time for my new hat (all I did was enlargen my pattern a bit so I saved time on that) I’ve invested over 500 minutes and I’m not even ¼th done with the sewing.
Okay so to start you obviously need to get your supplies. For my hat I use 7/8 oz veg tanned hide, a boxcutter with a new blade (or something similar to cut the leather), pens + pencils for marking, a ruler, a 4 in 1 awl, a stitching groover, a spacer set, an edge beveler, an edge slicker, leather stitching needles and waxed nylon thread. Plus whatever dye or paint.
After you’ve gathered your supplies you need to pattern the hat. For me it was literally just grabbing some big paper from an XL Biggie sketchbook I had and messing around until I had a brim shape I liked with a cut out large enough to fit my head in. You can make your own or use a proper pattern whatever works for you! Test the pattern by putting it on sturdy paper or cardstock, assembling with tape and test it to make sure it fits and everything is not too tall/short/big/small. Make adjustments if needed.
Once you’re satisfied with your pattern it’s time to trace it onto the leather. I suggest using a pencil if possible though if you’re careful you can also use a pen since you’ll be edging the leather later on anyways. I use’d scotch tape to hold my pattern in place but something like painter’s tape that wont leave residue or some weights would be better.
When you’ve got it all traced down remove the pattern and CAREFULLY use your box cutter to cut it out of the leather. Work very slowly and make sure you follow the lines. I tend to work in sections and score the line lightly first before pressing harder so I have a grooved path to follow.
Ta-dah! all cut out! Do that for all your pieces and again make sure to be careful.
When all of these are cut out you’re going to want to get a cup of water and a cloth or soft sponge. Wet the edges (best to work one piece at a time and in sections) and use the edge beveler on the outer brim of the hat, top and bottom. I also do just the top side of the top of the hat and nothing to the band, but you’re welcome to do as you see fit. After that’s done you’ll take the groover (i have an adjustable one so i set it to the size of the leather), wet the edges again and do a pass or 3 to get a nice deep groove. You’ll want to do this on the top and bottom of the band, the ends of the band where it’ll be stitched together, the INSIDE edge of the brim and the outer aka only edge of the top. DO NOT groove the outside of the brim, you don’t need stitching lines there. From there you’ll take the spacer and carefully follow the groove, pressing so you get the stitching placement markings. If you love yourself, when that’s done, you can go ahead and use the awl to CAREFULLY poke those stitching indents into holes. I don’t so I do it later which is harder and more work and pain on my part.
With that done you can now map out the slots in the band and brim. I just did a lot of guesstimating on what would look nice and marked it all out with pencil. I put little X’s in the slots so I knew what to actually cut out and to not confuse myself too bad.
Then more careful cutting with your box cutter or blade of choice and some very careful beveling. I only do the topside/outside not the inside. I then use the water to make sure my edges are wet and use the edge slicker for the outside cuts then just the cloth/sponge to wet and press the cut out edges. Leave it to dry COMPLETELY before moving on.
After the pieces have all been set up and readied I go ahead onto the dye step, or in the case of my new hat since I wanted a bone color, the paint step. It’s pretty straight forward, make sure you get the entirely of the top dyed/painted. If you’re doing a dye/stain its a very good idea to have pre poked your holes so the dye can get into them or youll be doing touch ups later.
You can leave the raw side of the leather its regular tan but it does also take dye/paint as well. I painted the underside of the brim since that’s all thats really going to be seen by anyone else.
Paint, edges and groove+indents all there to see! Again let everything FULLY DRY before continuing unless you want to do touchups and be covered in more dye/paint. Time for sewing.
This is by far the most time consuming part and takes ages. Make sure you have the proper leather needles and waxed nylon thread. I’m not too good at explaining how to actually do this so this tutorial here makes it pretty simple! Basically you’ll be using TWO needles and the length of thread. I start by sewing the band into a circle. When that’s done you can either set the seam to the center back of the brim or the hat top. I did it to the brim for my first hat but to the top for this second one. Since thats a corner edge and not a straight one it’s a bit difficult to make happen but its still a similar stitching style. Take it slow and careful, use the awl again if you need to reopen a stitching hole (wetting the inside of the leather again helps!).
This part is just a looot of time and patience and anime watching. At about 4 episodes into ES21 again I had only completed the back of the band and not even 1/3 of the sewing the band to the top.
When all the sewing is done I err on the side of caution and grab some leather glue and very carefully glue over ALL my stitches, inside and out. If you don’t want to do them all it’s at least a good idea to reinforce the parts where you ran out of thread and had to tie it off and start again. Use a leather seal/finish over the top and you’re done!