Leather Steampunk Top Hat

If you've got some basic leatherworking know-how and need a spiffy hat for your steampunk getup, give this one a try.  It took me 3 hours of construction and alteration on day 1, and 2 hours dyeing and finishing on day 2.

Step 1 Materials

From your leatherworking tool kit:
rivet setter
hammer
knife or rotary cutter
cutting mat
rulers
leather hole punch
marking pencil

Supplies:
LEATHER (I used a cheap-ass utility hide I bought off a sale rack because the price was too good to ignore.)
Dye and a dauber
20 or so rivets
mink oil
leather finish
bailing wire

AND either a good quality sewing machine (I used my home sewing Viking machine, but it's got a great motor) or leather stitching supplies for hand sewing (ick)

Comments

[kwhitacre]

I love your hat. I didn't see you mention anything about rubber cement. About 43 years ago, when I was teaching Jr. Hi, I taught leather craft: we would glue, using rubber cement, applied like contact cement; apply to each surface to be joined and then join them once the glue is dry. This makes stitching easier and if hand stitching, makes punching holes for stitching/lacing easier, too. I love steampunk and have some leather. So I'll keep this idea handy. Thanks for the clear description and great photos. Your husband is handsome in the black hat... matches his hair. :-)

[tinker234]

wow very cool could i possably make a wool one

[Lili Angelika]

This work was wonderful!

[sonofstone]

this is amazing, i'll try and make one, but i dont think im gonna dye it, the colour of leather looks cool to me, i'll be using this 'ible a whole lot

[DragonFJ]

This is one of the better top hat tutorials I ran across, I loved it so much I ended up going back to it religiously to make my own hat!

Ended up not riveting the inserts instead i hand stitched it together and it turned out pretty nice.

Thank you again!

[13thvulture]

where do you get utility hide? i make tophats too, not anything like this of course, mine tend to be more mad hatter style, but a bit steampunk too. i use only recycled materials since i dont have much money. for example, the last one i made was old shirts, a leather car seat, a large amount of coffee grounds, and a tomato cage.

if utility hide is cheap leather, id love to know where to get it. old car seats dont much care for being shaped when steamed. they either dont change shape at all, or just shrivel up for some reason.

[Tanz27]

Hi all,

I am planning to make this and after a discussion with a couple of leather suppliers it seems Veg Tan or tooling leather is most appropriate for this project. I have found it difficult to get hold of in the UK. However, try The Identity Store. They are an online store based in Matlock in Derbyshire. They seem happy to help, and willing to cut hides that are way to much for this project down to a size that suits. I managed to get 4ft sq of natural veg tan leather for £27. Hopefully it will be enough. I'm completely new to the world of leatherwork but really wanna give it a go. So, any handy tips to add to this instructables would be much appreciated.

Happy Making
Tanz

[hanlie]

Hi
I wanted to make one for a costume party, but the leather was too expensive (One would think that it would be much cheaper in South Africa than in the States)
Anyway I had an inner-tube of a truck lying around and decided to try it. I think it came out quite nice. It's a bit top heavy and it gets hot after a while, but you know, it's painful to be beautiful.

Thanks for the instructable it was fun making it
Hanlie

[Jenn Nelson]

That's awesome!

[mdrummer]

How much leather did you need to make your size 7 hat please? As you hat is awesome and inspiring me to have a go but unsure of the costs.

[Jenn Nelson]

I bought half a skin and used about half of it.

Hope that helps!

[JamesRPatrick]

Where do you get your leather?

[Jenn Nelson]

I work near a big Tandy warehouse, so every once in a while I wander in and buy some stuff.

[mdrummer]

How much leather did you need to construct this hat it looks incredible . I know this will only be an idea of how much based on your size 7?

[ajs1313]

Fair enough. Didn't mean to disturb you.

[Jenn Nelson]

You didn't disturb me, I just didn't really have a good reason for omitting it; I didn't feel like it needed one.

[ajs1313]

Very nice, but why didnt you add a headband onn the inside?

[Jenn Nelson]

I didn't feel like it, I guess. My husband hasn't noticed...I suppose you could put one on yours if you really felt like it..

[Leo4613]

Really liked this!! I tried making it with " Faux leather"( upholstery Naugahyde I had left over from a job.), would have came out great but I messed up 2 times. Once sewing the bottom edge to the top piece, and not leaving a seam allowance on the brim. Was able to salvage it though. turned it into a "regular" hat. to get the brim to curve up on the sides I cut thin plastic(a can lid),heated it over the side of a can to get a curve, the inserted them between the upper and lower parts of the brim. Picture of it in my profile in case I can't add one to my comment.
Thank you for sharing this! :) :)

[Jenn Nelson]

Cool!

[Leo4613]

Thank you! Glad you both like it. :) For not being what I intended, I have gotten quite a few complements on it. Guess if you learn to adapt your mistakes they work . ;) :) :)

[tinker234]

loooks like a steampunk cowboy cool

[dray3]

Can i use leather that is already cured and polished? Will the steaming effect still work on it?

[Jenn Nelson]

I'm not sure... I steamed mine a second time after dying and waxing it and it worked fine...

[dray3]

Sorry for all the questions, but also, I was wondering about how thick the leather needs to be because i have some thin 1.5 millimeter thick leather. If it is too thin can i use two layers of it?

[Jenn Nelson]

Probably not, they won't have enough structural integrity. The leather I used was about 3mm.

[skim-2]

can you use fleece? Because I don't have leather

[Jenn Nelson]

You probably couldn't use these instructions with fleece.

[ivyartist]

I'm attempting to build one of these hats (love the pattern btw)... what's the weight of your hide or if you could, what's the thickness in millimeters? I've been trying to find "utility hide" but tandy leather doesn't have anything labeled as such on their website and they don't have a store near me. any help would be awesome ^-^

[thepelton]

Inch to metric conversion is one inch equals twenty five and four tenths milimeters.

[ivyartist]

... yes i know that. but in order to order leather online i want to make sure that i'm getting the right weight. Leather measures weight in millimeters (the thickness of the leather in millimeters) ... so 1 millimeter leather is lighter in weight than 8 millimeter.... 8 millimeter is like a latigo leather (it's good for gauntlets but you can't sew through it). Unfortunately the Tandy Leather site doesn't use the words "Utility Hide" so I don't know what the correct weight is.... i don't want to order leather that isn't thick enough to stand up on it's own.

[wolffster]

I'm using 3-4 oz. leather.

[ivyartist]

thanks!

[EllieBelle]

Found it! <3
http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/home/department/cowhide/cowhide-utility-leather/cowhide-utility-leather.aspx

[ivyartist]

omg thank you i've been trying to find that for so long now!

[sonofstone]

it's really funny, almost everything that says viking in it is good quality, anyway, i'll give this a try, i've got a 20" piece of leather, all i need are the rivets

[Starcatcher]

Would this instructable work well if I were to use a heavy felt instead of leather, and use wire to give it the curving shape instead of steam?

[That Inventor Dude]

perchance could bootpolish be used? I Can imagine Itd dye It Pefectly fine,
but would the smell linger?

[Jenn Nelson]

It won't dye it; it will give you something of a translucent wash (it's not pigmented deeply enough.) That being said, it would probably give you a really nice aging effect.

[Leo4613]

I'm still gonna try making the Top Hat again though!! lol :) :)