Hi, I just bought a sun hat that I'm hoping to add to my garb. Unfortunately its slightly too big so it sits over the tops of my ears and makes me look like a 5 y/o :). The tag says its 100% paper, and there is a band sewn into it but its just plain ribbon, I guess its supposed to be a sweatband maybe? Any ideas on how to make it fit?
(http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb436/BlueCaraway/IMG_0585.jpg)
The inside, you can see the ribbon
(http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb436/BlueCaraway/IMG_0584.jpg)
The front, I have the side pinned up so I'm not swamped by it.
You could take some cotton material of your choosing and sew a makeshift liner/insert for the hat that will make the inside of it fit tighter over your head... but there isn't much else you could do to make it "smaller" without damaging that hat, to my knowledge. Just trace the diameter of the inner brim-edge... and then sew your material so it fits your head snuggly, but not so tight as to give you a headache... can double up the material a few times as well if needed to get proper thickness. Best way I can think to do it.
My tall hat was too big and tilted over my head. I took a piece of foam, cut it to about 1" and measured it to the circumference of the inside of the hat. I put it in the brim, then adjusted the hat on my head where I wanted it to sit, and glued the foam there. It now sits on my head straight, and being foam, does not hurt in the least.
Depending on how much you need to make it smaller will depend on what you need to do. Lady Renee 's foam idea is what I do for hats that are an inch or so too big. I had an actor put a strip of faux fur inside his fedora when it kept slipping. We had a pirate hat that was just a tad too big, we just added an extra gross grain ribbion around the crown that was tightened so it pulled the crown in just a little bit to make it snugg around the guys head. Like I said, it depends on how much bigger the hat is than your head.
For theaters we use weather stripping foam.Just place it inside the band of the hat. It's sweat proof, doesn't pill or fall apart! In fact my Santa Fe crown has a line of it around the bottom so it will stay on my head.
Have you considered a coif? I had an seriously oversized straw hat that slipped all the time, so I pinned it to a plain linen coif (biggin) which in turn tied under my chin. I've seen some hats pinned onto the coif from the outside with long pins decorated with with flowers too.
Looks very peasant-y.
gives you an idea of the style.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Aertsen_006a.jpg
When I worked at the Costume Shop years ago, I would take elastic, measure about my head minus 5" and sew the ends. Then marked in 4 places, used a stapler on the inside of the sweatband. I made sure the elastic was secured enough.
That usually did the trick for hats that were just a tad too big for the head.
I have this problem with a beautiful wool felt hat I had trimmed out with jewels and feathers. I read this thread but couldn't visualize what you guys were saying... so I found a video (http://www.thefedorastore.com/FedoraFelt-Sizing-Strip-p/strips.htm) that shows how to install foam or felt strips inside the sweatband. I had some 3M double-stick foam tape, so I'm giving that a try. I still think it might be too big (or it's just an unattractive hat on me--sob!) but we'll see how it looks in pictures tomorrow. If necessary, I'll try another tip suggested here.
Thanks!