Hat backs

[heilman70]

I have a customer that needs the company name on the back of his hats.. An arc around the opening... Any help on best procedure to do this? Can I use a 4" hoop, and regular tearaway?.. And how can I be sure to get the correct arc in design shop, as the hat is flat in the hoop? Thanks for any help!

[Wishes]

Dear Heilman,
To decide on the arc, we just put an arc together, stitch it flat on backing, cut it out and hold it up to the hat. Usually yo9u will need to increase the column width so the lettering doesn't get lost in the thick hat fabric. It would be easiest to use a slimline or a fast frame with sticky backing. The slimline is a bigger expense but you will eventually make the money back over time. The fast frame is less expensive by a lot but is more time consuming to set up. If you are going to do many hats the slimline will make the backs much easier and faster. Maybe buy on sale or from used equipment sites.
Good luck Margaret

[signman]

The few times I did hat backs, I used the 5.7" hoop (I know-there is a metric size for it but I don't do metric).
STIFF backing, tearaway...and as Margaret says, practice with the arc until you get what you want.
Open/unsnap the hat back and just let the belt/plastic fall down in the hoop-hoop it so the hoop is past the sewn ends. Get it as flat as you can and away you go.
The slimline (clamp system) is definitely faster and easier-we have that but didn't when I did the hat backs. Just have to put masking tape on the slimline frame so you can use a magic marker to note where the hat lines up for fast hooping.

[Ian]

Have you thought about using the micro pocket hoop? the larger one I believe you could go as wide as 3.5. It's more limeted in size, but can be loaded very quick.

[HERB]

I use a 12 cm hoop. May have to make a video of this well. Kinda of hard to describe.

[levelbest]

Sweeeeeeet. It's about time Herb. The public has been clamoring!

BTW, we just just the micro clamp system on velcro close caps. Don't do a lot of fitteds. I can position and have the hat on there in about 15 seconds and ready to sew.