| Show silk topper Is doomed few are learning trade the sill silk hat unlike its felt competitors peti tors does not lend itself to mass production notes a writer in tit bits magazine E every very topper is the skillful creation of several experts working in conjunction who have served a long apprenticeship to the job they are body bakers trimmers finishers and shapers the 1 body consists of a stiffened calico ico wound around a cyl cylindrical indri cal block and upon this the brim and top are ironed the plush cover cut to graded sizes Is sewn together with a diagonal seam and placed over the body while hot As it cools it contracts to a perfect fit the finisher gives the silk hat its beautiful sheen and the shaper curls cu als the br imand puts in the lining the very fact that the topper Is the production of experts tends to make its doom even more certain than it would otherwise be for no youth is likely to enter upon a long apprenticeship to a dying trade and thus the time will soon come when no one capable of making a silk hat will be left at the present there remain only a few hundred of such men |
