Felt hat basics

[prf]

Wanted: basic info for Litefelt

After reading the informative posts on this thread, I'm left wondering what exactly applies to Litefelt, what doesn't, and what else I ought to know about care and maintenance. I welcome any information or guidance. Thanks.

 

[W0XDL]

Cleaning Rim on Homburg

For lack of the probable correct terminology, I would like some help with cleaning the "rim" around the outer edge of my Homburg. I carefully was able to clean the felt but there are still a few discolored spots around this edge. The hat is gray, if that matters.

Thanks!

DL

 

[Subvet642]

Hi All, I'm new to the "Lounge" and haven't learned the local etiquette yet, so please bear with me. I recently bought my first "real" felt hats; one a Bailey Gangster fedora in cadet, and a brown porkpie. I'm having a little difficulty shaping the brim on the fedora. I'm trying to achieve a smooth, gradual transition from back to front. The current shape is somewhat dramatic, and looks good enough, but not quite perfect. I have a hand steamer which I used to shape the porkpie with great success (front down, like Jimmy Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy). Any advice?

 

[Subvet642]

If your main goal is to wear it, rather than to "curate" it as a historical artifact, the best thing would be to have the sweatband and liner replaced, which should only cost $30 or so at a custom hat house. You can get it completely washed in a liquid bath, re-blocked and -flanged, creased, with a new sweatband, liner, and ribbon for about $80.

Hi, do you know of a custom hat shop in Boston? My wife bought a hat at a local vintage clothing and antique shop, and she would like to wear it. It seems to be in very good shape, but needs some sprucing up.

 

[FreshHell]

Hat Boxes

Anybody have a decent source for reasonably attractive hat boxes?

 

[Colby Jack]

Welcome Subvet and FreshHell!:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Subvet642]

Anybody have a decent source for reasonably attractive hat boxes?

Do you have "Christmas Tree Shops" out there? They are a good source for them at a very reasonable price. If I see any online, I'll post them here, as well.

 

[retro50]

Has anyone heard about or read (own) this book. I am looking for a good all round reference book on hats and hat making just to come up to speed on all the terms used in the making and styling of fedoras.

"A Treatise On Hat-Making And Felting: Including A Full Exposition Of The Singular Properties Of Fur, Wool, And Hair (1868)" (Paperback)
by John Thomson (Author)

 

[celtic]

What are hat brushes made from nowadays?

I found ONE shop locally that sells them, and when asked, the fellow on the phone told me he believes they have nylon bristles. They sell for $15, so I'm guessing they will be similar in quality to the brushes I've seen online.

I'd much rather just buy one locally instead of having one shipped to me.

Do you blokes have brushes with actual horsehair, etc. or do you have nylon bristled brushes?

 

[suitedcboy]

Horsehair!! Nylon is too rough on the felt.

A new white or bleached horsehair shoe brush works well for light colored hats and is not hard to find or expensive.
Black horsehair brush is fine for dk hats. There may be some risk that black brushes have dyed hair that might transfer to a light colored hat.

 

[celtic]

Thanks very much. I'll grab a nice horsehair shoebrush for now and then order a hat care kit from one of the hatters online when I get the chance.

Cheers!

 

[cookie]

Horsehair!! Nylon is too rough on the felt.

A new white or bleached horsehair shoe brush works well for light colored hats and is not hard to find or expensive.
Black horsehair brush is fine for dk hats. There may be some risk that black brushes have dyed hair that might transfer to a light colored hat.

That happened to me when brushing a cream fedora.

 

[John in Covina]

A while back one of the guys had noted that if you can't find a hat brush,
then a new (unused) soft shoe brush worked well for hats too. The big brick shaped polisher ones.

 

[Shel]

Hat Care

Great tips. Thanks very much!!

 

[bendingoak]

Are people having trouble finding hat brushes?

 

[Justdog]

Stetson Hat making

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Stetson-Hat.html

Not sure if this is posted here but interesting.

 

[St.Ignatz]

I found a small mushroom brush fits in the pocket or dittybag nicely for travel. It's much softer than a veggie brush. I know nylon bristles are rough on felt but a quality mushbrush is very flexible and works well enough to carry along.

 

[Jeff C.]

HAT SIZE??

i've been reading the post's here regarding hat size, including a couple charts. my head is just over 22 1/4 circum., using an old cloth seamstress' tape. this indicates my hat size to be 7 1/8. i have an old resistol cowboy hat, i think it's called a cattleman, in 7 1/8. it fits fine. my problem is, there are some really great old dobb's fedora's listed on e-bay, by a person who bought a hat collection at an estate sale in oklahoma. most of these hats are 7 1/8. this person is thorough enough to include circumference and is listing these 7 1/8 hats as being mostly 21 1/2 and 21 5/8. can somebody help me out here. could it be, the original owner of the hats, tried on hats until he found one that fit, and that the true size was not indicative of the size marked on the tag in hat band? i'm dying to buy a couple of these vintage dobb's, but now i'm afraid i'm going to end up buying something that doesn't fit. this is my first post, i hope i'm putting it in the proper place, so i can get some answers.

 

[John in Covina]

Jeff

1) old fur felt hats often shrink over time.
2) sizes can be a little off from maker to maker.
3) although the seller has done the measuring, how sure are we that they were 100% accurate. It is tougher than you think to accurately measure the inner circumfrance of a hat.

If the difference is small you may be able to stretch the hat back to the origin size. There are threads on hat stretching.

 

[gtdean48]

Jeff,
I'm a 7 5/8 or a 7 1/2 Long Oval, maybe even extra long oval. I've got 7 1/2 vintage hats that fit fine, then after sitting a while, need some shaping with a hat stretcher. I have a Hat Jack & a vintage stretcher that are usually in one of my lids at all times. When dealing with vintage, get close then adjust them, with too large I use felt spacer behind the sweatbands but after use, they come out. HTH gtd