Vintage Wooden Millinery Hat Form Stretcher - Marked "7"

Collectibles : Vintage : Millinery Hat Stretcher Hat Form Mold Textiles

 

Think back in time when Milliners of by-gone years did not have today's technology to create their fashions and had to improvise with whatever they had at hand. This vintage millinery hat stretcher is a prime example. Carved from two solid blocks of wood, each in a half moon shape and held together with a steel vise to allow the hat stretcher to open and close by turning it in the appropriate direction. The blocks of wood are guided by a steel pin on one end of the stretcher which is marked in increments of 2 3/8", 2 3/4", 3 1/8", 3 1/2" 4" and 4 3/8". While on the other end, for reasons I do not know there is a piece of wood cut out on top on the left hand block of wood. The stretcher measures 7 1/4" when fully closed and 8 1/2" when open to its fullest . The number "7" is incised at the top of the right hand block of wood and has no markings as to who the manufacture is. The stretcher with it's original patina dates around the early 1920's and is a great way to keep your clothes and hats in shape after being out in those April showers.

Item ID: ME-2912