3D Foam Supplier

[Maggie21]

Hi All,

Does anyone have a good source for 3D foam for hats? Finally getting my design dialed in and will be needing some good foam for a few hats. I heard that Pacific Headwear has some really good firm foam that sews beautifully. Does anyone know if we can get this foam?

Thanks a million.

[gcannon]

allstitch.net has a bunch of colors starting at 89 cents for a sheet of 2mm that's 12" by 18". And the 6mm 9" by 12" sheets are 1.29 each.

[ August 17, 2011, 02:58 PM: Message edited by: gcannon ]

[Maggie21]

Thanks Gregory. Like that they have different colors. I'll give them a try.

Maggie

[gcannon]

No problem, Maggie. Are you digitizing your own designs to use the foam? I have never digitized for it. I know you have to cap the colums & tack it down first; but I also know it can't be that simple.

[TYI]

Hi Maggie,

you may also want to try your local arts n crafts store. I've found the same type of foam for about .50 a sheet (same as listed by gregory above). Just a thought...

Erick

[gcannon]

I knew Hobby Lobby had it, but didn't know if it was the same kind ya'll needed to do the puffy stuff. Learn something every single day, I do! Thank you Erick- always trying to save some money myself; and if you go get it yourself, no shipping!

[Body Cover]

We found that money well spent was looking for and buying a hat with puffy foam embroidery on it, examine, cut apart, and basically reverse engineer it and it helps you to understand the process better. Especially the capped corners.
Also a hair dryer (which may not be hot enough) or an industrial heat gun (which is way to hot so be careful) is helpful to shrink the foam edges slightly to minimize the little tufts of foam that will be sticking out afterwards. We toured Richardson cap and they had a crew of people with almost looked dental picks pushing in tufts of foam manually after the heat process. so remember to charge accordingly because there is a lot more work. You can also look in places like Dakota collectibles for 3d designs, and at least see how they digitized for it. Gives some valuable insight.
Ron

[Maggie21]

My tech was here the other day and I picked his brain on how to digitize Puff for hats. I also got some instructions from Melco that helped and then we viewed Julie's video, we also checked out some puff designs we received to see how they were done. With all that under our belt we were able get a decent looking hat. We did have to push in some of the foam with a toothpick after we heated it up a bit with a heat gun we bought at Michaels. Just waiting for the cheap hats that I bought to arrive so that I can do some more testing. I'll have to go back to Michaels to see if I can find the foam there.
Thank you everyone for all your insight it is extremely appreciated.

Maggie

[Body Cover]

Thought I'd throw this link in there as well.
I buy my 3d foam from these guys.
Fast ship and not bad pricing.

Check it out

http://www.gunold.com/

Ron

[Maggie21]

Thanks Ron, will check out Gunold.
FYI, I went to Michaels and found the foam in tons of colors. Unfortunately it's craft foam so when it sews out the presser foot smashes the foam too much and you lose the 3D effect.

The 3Mil foam that I had worked the best. I'm just thrilled I have a decent sample to show may client.

Thank you all for you assistance.
Maggie