"Hello again Emilis, Typing late at night made my sentence all garbled. Sorry. If you sand thinner felts that have been stiffened your sanding down to the inside of the felt where most of the stiffener resides. From experience, the felt tends to look…"

"Sanding is done by Hatters because they use a lot of Beaver mix felts.Sanding works best with beaver because you general don't need stiffener when working with that felt. With other felts you can sand up the chalk stiffener with thinner…"

"Hi Susie, Welcome to the world of hatting. It's different materials & blocks. I block both trilbys & fedoras but when I was learning I couldn't find online instructions. Its different then millinery in that you do…"

"If its a custom hat, I always go with the clients face proportions. The measurement between the eye & the jaw line. Otherwise I don't go over 4 inches ....unless its my intention to go with a high crown:)  Anyone with more…"

"I had heard of the Alpian style crown but didn't know that it matched. Good to know. I thought this crown could be from the Pixie style from the 20th Century."

"I'm lucky to have a local design incubator in my town that is supplied with industrial sewing machines that I can use for $20/day. Have a look at cylinder or post bed machines. We have…"

"You are welcome Kathy.   And thank you for the nice complement.  We are about 50 miles south of Chicago towards Kankakee. Peotone does have an exit on I57. My ETSY shop name is NouveauHatsbySharon.  If you go to my photos in Hat…"

"Thank you for this info. I have a hard time trying to navigate to the message board on Hat Academy. It is confusing!   Where in IL is the town you live in? I am originally from WI and dont know where a lot of cities are here in IL.  What…"

"Kathy my last name is like the Italian Smith.  There is even a town in Italy where everyone is named Panozzo.   I have had my feathers for years and still have bunches and bunches in all colors.  I bought mine at a much lower price…"

"Where does one get them this long? BTW, I used to work with a man with your last name. Very nice man. First name Lou. Any relation? Kathy"

"Thank you Kathy.  The feathers are "wide prime femina ostrich"  and they are anywhere from24-30 inches long.  They are soft and full but to make them fuller I sew 2 or more together at the tips. I also double curl them as…"