Hat Stretcher

Hat Stretcher

The Walking Box Ranch Collection

The wooden Milliner's Hat Stretcher is a device typically found in a milliner's, for correctly sizing hats to the customer. It has a flat platform, cracked from age, raised from the surface it sits on by four rubber feet, screwed to the base. The feet are hardened and cracked by age. The sizing apparatus consists of two wooden halves, connected by two bars which the movable portion slides on, which pass through the movable half and turn town to bolt through the base. A thin plastic sizing template is mounted to the base with pins, graduated in hat size, centimeters of circumference, and inches of circumference. Movement of the sizing mechanism is via a coarse threaded rod through both halves, terminated on the back by a riveted collar and turned by a simple cylindrical bar at the front end. There is a hole through the movable half which the upper guide pin moves through.

Accessioning Number 2011.2.287

1930s-1940s

UNLV Division of Educational Outreach

The object is available for education and research purposes and is a part of the UNLV Division of Educational Outreach Collection. This image may not be reproduced for commercial purposes without the express written consent of the UNLV Division of Educational Outreach Collection.

A 3D object associated with fitting hats at a milliner's shop.

WHL

English

Physical Object

A device like this would have been used to stretch hats. Cowboy hats, usually being made out of a combination of felt and leather, required a great deal of work to manufacture. A hat stretcher was used to stretch the fit of finished hats that would normally be initially tight for the wearer, and to make a custom fit.

Vintage sources on 1920s and 1930s Millinery Practices:
1938 - Job Descriptions for the Retail Trade, Volume 2 - Milliner - Millinery Artist

Illustrated Milliner Company. “The Illustrated Milliner: American Authority on Millinery, Manufacturer's Edition, Volume 23.8” (August 1922): 19m

Contemperary Sources:
Reynolds, William and Rich Rand. The Cowboy Hat Book. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2003.

Hopkins, Susie. The Century of Hats: Headturning Style of the Twentieth Century. Chartwell Books, 1999

Entry created by Matthew Conner