Hello Everyone!,

I want to get started on my Beginners Course, but cannot afford a hat steamer right now......does anyone have any suggestions and/or success stories using something else?

thanks heaps,

Annette

Tags: Essential Discussions

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What a fantastic idea, like most I have tried all sorts, from floor steamers to kettle and have not found any suit me personally, I will definitely give this a try.

Dear, do you mean the 

Earlex SS125 Maxisteam Wallpaper Stripper - 2000W710 ?

Is not the tube too long that the steamer miss part of its power?

Thank you.

You are welcome!

When I first started, I used my pressure canner.  http://hatacademy.com/profiles/blogs/poor-milliner-s-steamer

Well I still don't own a hat steamer after 25 years of making hats I use a tea pot that sits on my stove a large pot of boiling water and a metal colander. I place the body in a damp towel inside the colander remove it then place body over the hat block. I also use a clothing steamer.

I've had great luck using a mini-steamer.  The one I have is called a My Little Steamer, and you can find it at Bed Bath and Beyond or on Amazon.  Here's a blog post I wrote with further details: http://www.rachelbookbinderartist.com/blog/2015/4/26/millinery-life....  Good luck!

You can use a "milliners shot of steam",  take a deep breath, and cover the area to be steamed with your lips,  and exhale,  getting the material warm and damp with moist warm air.  this can be helpful with small areas like flowers, or areas of a hat body that you would like to manipulate (block) with your fingers.  This can also be helpful with feathers,  and with reblocking portions of a finished hat.

 When stitching heavy seams you may exhale a warm breath into the joint of the seam and bite the thickest part where the fabric is piled up  to minimize the bulk of the seam joint when a hammer is not available.

Wetter steam is generally more effective than dry steam, for millinery purposes. Spraying a straw with water before steaming with an iron will wilt the material more effectively than steam alone,  Felt will act similarly.  

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My husband restores commercial coffee machines.  Finally the monster 'Mother Ship', in the kitchen has become more than just a caffeine sanity saver.  I use the steam wand on the coffee machine, because of the size and pressure it builds, the steam is pretty powerful.  Even better, the cup warmer on the top now acts as a great way to get things dry.

What a great idea! Gimme that espresso monster my husband use, I need to start my experiments.
But, I guess, regular machines are not that powerful... or would it be enough? Probably need to try on the least loved ones first.

I bought a stove top kettle from K-Mart for around $12. The amount of steam it produces is just as good as a Jiffy branded one. Love using it!

I bought a used Jiffy garment steamer.  And paid an extra $20 to buy the nozzle converter to turn it into a hat steamer.  Now I can use it for both purposes.

You can use a garment steamer with good success 

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