How to make a crush cap-

[fishmeok]

I didn't have any interest in my Lancaster officer's hat repop so I decided to make it into a "crush cap" along the lines of a Flighter a Dobbs. The hat is made well and uses good materials, but it is essentially a standard size regulation cap- about 11 1/4" diameter across the top and stiff. I disassembled the hat down to it's component parts, reduced the diameter to 10", topstiched the seams, and removed a lot of excess bulk. I also re-hand stitched the band. The hat is almost a copy of my original Dobbs now although I should have removed one of the layers from the brim to soften it up more. I'm happy with it, especially since it only took a few hours. Good thing to do on a Friday night with thunderstorms popping up all over the place.

Before:

After, next to the Dobbs:

Cheers
Mark

 

[dujardin]

WOW Mark

splendid work again.
only an expert eye can make the difference by looking the outside of your crush cap.
great work
my birthday is not so far , maybe you can prepare one for me at this occasion :lol:

byeeeeeee marcel

 

[fishmeok]

That cab be done Marcel, if you can find a Lancaster - most of the other repro's are not worth the effort....
Cheers
Mark

 

[DiamondDave]

Mark,

Nicely done!

That was the very thing that I noticed, when I decided to make my own repros of these vaunted "old friends" of yesteryear. Other repro makers seem to ALWAYS make the toppers entirely too large and the crown way too high... which gives that Manuel Noriega "Dictator Look", as I refer to it.


Again, Nicely done.

DD

 

[fishmeok]

Thanks Dave- I decided to try it with this one because it was such a good quality to begin with (and I needed to obsess about something other than jacket-making for a while). It looks to me like Lancaster's (are they still in business?) standard current issue service cap, but made with vintage looking wool elastique and mohair - would have been excellent for someone doing a WWII regular Army impression. I removed a lot of unnecessary parts, including the plastic hat band stiffener/support (ended up making a new one out of a strip of leftover leather covered with cloth and reinforced with zig-zag stitching so it would be as pliable as the originals- actually a lot of fun). I spent some time working the brim tonight while watching the tornadoes roll by (drove the wife nut's, I'm always fidgeting) and the brim is now as soft as the Dobbs. Going to be fun having one of these I don't have to be careful with.

I will never understand why the giant dictator hat became so popular over the years- especially among the North Korean and Soviet crowd. Smaller tops make a lot more sense to me :ugeek:

Cheers
Mark

 

[Steve27752]

Mark,
I have a 'Lancaster' cap. Just to confirm that you have removed the plastic stiffener that is behind the eagle, so the only thing that now holds up the front of the cap is the eagle?

 

[fishmeok]

Steve, I removed the perforated plastic band inside the hat which circles the diameter behind the sweat band and supports the green mohair band and replaced it with a leather strip covered with cloth and sewn together. This gives it about the same amount of support a real one has. The eagle stiffener piece is still there, but shortened to accommodate the smaller top diameter. On my hat it is two vertical wires covered with fabric.
Cheers
Mark

 

[Steve27752]

Steve, I removed the perforated plastic band inside the hat which circles the diameter behind the sweat band and supports the green mohair band and replaced it with a leather strip covered with cloth and sewn together. This gives it about the same amount of support a real one has. The eagle stiffener piece is still there, but shortened to accommodate the smaller top diameter. On my hat it is two vertical wires covered with fabric.
Cheers
Mark

Gotcha, thanks Mark.

 

[navvet]

Mark,
Once again your work is impressively realistic. Like your refined jackets, it is almost impossible to distinguish it from commercial sewing. Thanks for sharing.
Paul