cptjeff
Practically Family
- Messages
- 564
- Location
- Greensboro, NC
Bit of a lengthy photo entry here, so I figured I would give it it's own thread, to serve as inspiration to others who find hats in similar condition and want to try restoring them.
Recently, I found a fedora in a thrift shop. Small 60's stingy in what happened to be my size. 75 cents. It went home with me.
The catch was it wasn't in good shape. Photos as it was when I got it:
The inside:
I opened it up into an open crown with the aid of an electric kettle, inthe process discovering the sweat had dry rotted when I accidentally hit the back of the sweat with a bit of steam.
Liner shot- I had taken out the pricetag and size tag to be preserved later. The back of the sweat where it had curled was cut out so I could at least put it on.
The pricetag:
Then I steamed it up again and gave it a quick crease. the dark spot on the crown is where the spot cleaner that I was using was still drying. The stuff I tried was a carpet cleaner that didn't wind up working all to well (got it cleaned up eventually, but it took a lot of effort to get it clean AND to get the rings out.)
After that, it got sent out for a new sweat.
When it came back, I washed the liner, took off the ribbon and flipped it inside out, but left the bow faded. part of that was how it was sewn, it was a lot less work to do that then it would have been to undo the ribbon and completely remake it, but it also gives a cool two tone effect.
Due to the original state of the hat, the felt was screwy in the front of the hat and had no shape to it whatsoever, so the hat had to be pretty much soaked in cheap unscented hairspray, which I saw mentioned in some thread on here can be used as stiffener.
Final product?
While sending if off to Optimo or a pro might have gotten this back to the point where it could be worn as a dress hat, with just a little time and a new sweat I managed to turn it into a nice everyday hat, and it's turned into my favorite. The green color is a nice change from what you usually see.
Recently, I found a fedora in a thrift shop. Small 60's stingy in what happened to be my size. 75 cents. It went home with me.
The catch was it wasn't in good shape. Photos as it was when I got it:
The inside:
I opened it up into an open crown with the aid of an electric kettle, inthe process discovering the sweat had dry rotted when I accidentally hit the back of the sweat with a bit of steam.
Liner shot- I had taken out the pricetag and size tag to be preserved later. The back of the sweat where it had curled was cut out so I could at least put it on.
The pricetag:
Then I steamed it up again and gave it a quick crease. the dark spot on the crown is where the spot cleaner that I was using was still drying. The stuff I tried was a carpet cleaner that didn't wind up working all to well (got it cleaned up eventually, but it took a lot of effort to get it clean AND to get the rings out.)
After that, it got sent out for a new sweat.
When it came back, I washed the liner, took off the ribbon and flipped it inside out, but left the bow faded. part of that was how it was sewn, it was a lot less work to do that then it would have been to undo the ribbon and completely remake it, but it also gives a cool two tone effect.
Due to the original state of the hat, the felt was screwy in the front of the hat and had no shape to it whatsoever, so the hat had to be pretty much soaked in cheap unscented hairspray, which I saw mentioned in some thread on here can be used as stiffener.
Final product?
While sending if off to Optimo or a pro might have gotten this back to the point where it could be worn as a dress hat, with just a little time and a new sweat I managed to turn it into a nice everyday hat, and it's turned into my favorite. The green color is a nice change from what you usually see.
