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These are the shelves of hat blocks, many antique, in Izzie Lewis' basement studio. For any style or size of hat, you generally want a specific hat block. For men's hats in the days of hats, typically the big hat companies would have a new block for each incremental size, because men's styles were limited at any given time. For the more varied women's styles, usually a hat block would have to serve several sizes. You can stretch hats that are a little small or sew a smaller inside band into hats that are a little large. You can also wrap material around a hat block that's too small before blocking to make it a little larger — that's what we had to do for my fat head. You can also make some alterations in the style by hand.
I chose a cloche hat, very popular in the 1920s and '30s, with a deep crown that would sit over my ears and low on my forehead. I decided on a small brim. We measured our heads, and mine was the biggest in the class! I win!
I know I said I hadn't started taking photos yet, and I wasn't even lying. This is from our felt class in September. That's the back of Linda, my classmate, in the pink.
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