How much can you stretch a hat?

[PalmerPirate]

I'm sure this has been posted on here before, but I wasn't about to search an enormous thread.(I know threads have been posted in a similar vain, but to my knowledge, not answering this question.) I found a fantastic little hat that fits my character as well as it is beautiful. The greatest part is that being a used hat, it's cheap and has been well taken care of. Actually, it's cheaper than I could imagine anybody selling a hat of this quality. But alas! The hat is a size 6 7/8 and I wear a 7 1/8. Can it be safely stretched this far with a jack? Will I need to do any surgery? Or -God forbid- should I not buy the hat? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[avedwards]

Metropd appears to have succeeded in stretching this hat:
http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=44568

I think stretching isn't a problem, it's tapering that may be - the bottom ending up more stretched than the top. Perhaps send it to a hatter to be blocked?

 

[FurFeltFedora]

With an extreme stretch you may also find that you risk pulling the stitching on the sweatband or even the band itself. "Gentle" is a good word to use in conjunction with "stretching".

 

[Feraud]

Skip it and wait for something in your size.

 

[HatRak]

I'm with Feraud on this one. It's one thing to stretch a hat a little to adjust somewhere between one size and the next. It's a whole 'nother ballgame to stretch and hat up two sizes. A size 6 7/8 is 21 5/8" in circumferance; a size 7 1/8 is 22 1/2" in circumferance. You will be trying to stretch the hat almost 1 inch. Even if the felt can take it, the sweat won't; I suspect the ribbon won't either. And then there's the issue of how much you'll change the lines of the hat because the stretching screws up the crown taper.You might get a pro to disassemble the hat and re-block it for you, but you're still going to face the fact that the brim has been trimmed for a particular size. To get the additional room, you're going to have to lose crown height, brim width, or highly stress the felt with the potential of tearing it. My advice: save your money and buy something that both looks good and fits.

 

[mike]

And then there's the issue of how much you'll change the lines of the hat because the stretching screws up the crown taper./QUOTE]

That's a very good point. If you find yourself with an incredible golden age hat which could lets say produce a reverse taper, it would stand to reason that the more you stretch it out, the more it could begin to lose those golden era proportions and resemble a look of a more recent decade! Is that like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa..? Le sigh....

 

[m000m000]

I have stretched a couple of 7 1/8's to 7 3/8 with a full-body stretcher, but I generally wouldn't recommend it, the biggest reason being that the flange of the brim and location of the snap will get messed up (it won't form that neat straight line anymore but will be more 'curved') - After all, you're only stretching the body shape, while the brim remains untouched.

Also, in the 2nd case, I ended up wrecking the sweatband on the hat. The other (a 50ies Borsalino) was physically no worse from the stretching, aside from the brim issue.


If you only have a hat jack though, I wouldn't bother stretching any hat more than half a size with it- any more and you'll just get a noticable rim where the end of the hatjack meets the un-stretched part, and unless you wear your hats very high, it probably won't fit your head anyway (as your'e only stretching the bottom 1-1½ inches or so).

 

[High Pockets]

I'm sure this has been posted on here before, but I wasn't about to search an enormous thread.(I know threads have been posted in a similar vain, but to my knowledge, not answering this question.) I found a fantastic little hat that fits my character as well as it is beautiful. The greatest part is that being a used hat, it's cheap and has been well taken care of. Actually, it's cheaper than I could imagine anybody selling a hat of this quality. But alas! The hat is a size 6 7/8 and I wear a 7 1/8. Can it be safely stretched this far with a jack? Will I need to do any surgery? Or -God forbid- should I not buy the hat? Any help would be appreciated.

Most members here have been in your situation before,....many times.
When it happens to me I say; "Oh well.", and pass it up trying to think of it as a bus that you just chased while it accelerated down the block in a cloud of black smoke.

There's always the next bus.

Only one of the hats I've purchase was two sizes two small.
And the only reason I was willing to buy it was as you said; it was selling at an unbelievable price, ($20 for an early 1960's Bosalino), and the sweatband and liner were completely trashed, so I was fully aware that it was going to have to be sent it to a hatter to be re-sized & have a new liner and sweat intalled and was willing to do that.

If the hat you want is a really nice hat, one made of that old "mercury" felt that they can't come close to today,....you can still have a beautiful hat at the same price of one of today's not-quite-as-nice hats. Just remember, they'll have to change out the liner, sweat and ribbon.

If you do decide to try to stretch it, (you're not re-sizing it), keep us posted.

 

[daizawaguy]

Hats have memory! Had some sucess stretching a to a long oval...but never had any luck on getting the hat any larger. Agreed...buy your size, and your size only.

 

[scottyrocks]

I have a huge Bailey western that I stretched from its original 7 1/8 to a full 7 3/8. Because its a western, I didnt have any issues with the brim, which, because of its size (4"), was easily reshapable with some sprayed water, but the crown is noticeably wider where the jack was in it than what is above it. Again, because the hat is so big in general, it doesnt look too bad (my opinion, anyway). I also had to cut the back of the sweat, and let out the ribbon (there was just enough).

 

[PalmerPirate]

Ta-da! I have defied logic. The price was too low, I had to buy it. I did, it's here. I removed the hat band (it was hideous) and saturated the crown with steam. I quickly shoved it down on my head and played with it in a mirror. I went from a 6 7/8'' to a 7 1/8'' like I said and had no difficulty whatsoever. The sweatband is still in fine shape and the poor thing is just begging me to get a new band. It's a western hat, so maybe that had something to do with the ease in re-sizing. (Different felt, different construction.)

 

[Will Whetstone]

I am not an expert but I live in an area in the Southwest where many of our residents are seniors and are down sizing. I thought I had moved into fedora vintage heaven. I remember when I was in little league baseball and didn’t’t have enough money from shining shoes at Joe’s barber shop to afford a new baseball hat. Friends of mine who’s parents made more than mine would throw three hats in the trash. one afternoon while I was going through the trash at the ball park in Irving Tx. one of my team mates noticed and mentioned it to all the other ball players just to embarrass me in front of my buddies. Well what he didn’t know was all my buddies knew how much my dad was struggling to keep the lights on and gas in his 1953 Mercury. So every day after that they would stand by the trash cans and take the hats other players were going to trow away. Well as the old saying goes beggars can’t be choosers. I tried everything and I mean everything to make these hats fit my gourd head. So I would split the back of them to open the size. Now that I am making enough money to keep the lights on I still have this strong desire to wear expensive hats. I have talked to hatters all over the country and have found there is no replacement for a perfect 7 3/8 long oval hat. Where do you find them? There is a way to skirt by. I have purchased incredible Panamas that were worth $1,000s and had them stretched to fit and it worked amazing. I bought an incredible Borsalino from the 1940’s size 7. (How did evolution change so much in 100 years?) well I found a hatter in Tucson AZ that has a lady with over 40 years experience dealing with my issue. She grew up in an income level that makes mine look like middle class. She took one of my vintage Borsalino’s size 7 and stripped it down to the felt. Washed, cleaned and blocked it then rebuilt it into an amazing hat that fits me perfectly. However I do place it on my hat mold when I take it off until it breaks in. for $1.75 what could I lose. I volunteer at 2 theaters in Tucson that caters to an upper echelon clientele and every time I wear it men that know fine hats notice it and make comments on it. It has taken me about a year of wearing it but now it is my favorite fedora and I am proud of it. Now the guys that were wearing the baseball hats and throwing them away are asking me where did I get that hat. It’s a Cinderella story. (BTW) it cost me $65 to make an old hat into a hat for a king. Everyone who knows hats recognize a fine hat and the individual wearing it. No one knows but you how it got on your noggin.
I have found other hatters that know how to make the old ones reborn so the style doesn’t die. Resuscitate your hat and keep the style going to another generation. Mymsons are now waiting to see who gets my best one. Hats build a bridge to the generation we leave behind. It is our challenge to inform and pass on the knowledge of all the stories hats can share from our past.

 

[belfastboy]

I am not an expert but I live in an area in the Southwest where many of our residents are seniors and are down sizing. I thought I had moved into fedora vintage heaven. I remember when I was in little league baseball and didn’t’t have enough money from shining shoes at Joe’s barber shop to afford a new baseball hat. Friends of mine who’s parents made more than mine would throw three hats in the trash. one afternoon while I was going through the trash at the ball park in Irving Tx. one of my team mates noticed and mentioned it to all the other ball players just to embarrass me in front of my buddies. Well what he didn’t know was all my buddies knew how much my dad was struggling to keep the lights on and gas in his 1953 Mercury. So every day after that they would stand by the trash cans and take the hats other players were going to trow away. Well as the old saying goes beggars can’t be choosers. I tried everything and I mean everything to make these hats fit my gourd head. So I would split the back of them to open the size. Now that I am making enough money to keep the lights on I still have this strong desire to wear expensive hats. I have talked to hatters all over the country and have found there is no replacement for a perfect 7 3/8 long oval hat. Where do you find them? There is a way to skirt by. I have purchased incredible Panamas that were worth $1,000s and had them stretched to fit and it worked amazing. I bought an incredible Borsalino from the 1940’s size 7. (How did evolution change so much in 100 years?) well I found a hatter in Tucson AZ that has a lady with over 40 years experience dealing with my issue. She grew up in an income level that makes mine look like middle class. She took one of my vintage Borsalino’s size 7 and stripped it down to the felt. Washed, cleaned and blocked it then rebuilt it into an amazing hat that fits me perfectly. However I do place it on my hat mold when I take it off until it breaks in. for $1.75 what could I lose. I volunteer at 2 theaters in Tucson that caters to an upper echelon clientele and every time I wear it men that know fine hats notice it and make comments on it. It has taken me about a year of wearing it but now it is my favorite fedora and I am proud of it. Now the guys that were wearing the baseball hats and throwing them away are asking me where did I get that hat. It’s a Cinderella story. (BTW) it cost me $65 to make an old hat into a hat for a king. Everyone who knows hats recognize a fine hat and the individual wearing it. No one knows but you how it got on your noggin.
I have found other hatters that know how to make the old ones reborn so the style doesn’t die. Resuscitate your hat and keep the style going to another generation. Mymsons are now waiting to see who gets my best one. Hats build a bridge to the generation we leave behind. It is our challenge to inform and pass on the knowledge of all the stories hats can share from our past.

A big part of my business is restoring/resizing vintage hats to their former glory. It is probably the most satisfying work I have ever done. Nothing gives me more pleasure than taking a fine vintage felt destined for the trash heap, tearing it down to its components, cleaning, reblocking and restoring/replacing what is required so the hat appears as new.....in a size that fits the new owner.
,

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I think there is often a lot of confusion between stretching a sweat & resizing a hat.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I’ve sized thin wide brimmed fur felt Borsalino fedoras up from 6 7/8 to 7 5/8; however, this of course necessities complete reblocking, a re-flange the brim, a new sweatband, and a new liner. It’s basically using the donor hat as a blank hat body. As far as keeping an existing hat and “stretching” it up, about half-size is all I can do without a high probability of seriously damaging the hat. I’ve had VS go up a whole size without any indication of it having been stretched. @Randall Renshaw has some sort of magic that allows seemingly unlimited stretching, but requires a complete disassembling and then reassembling of the hat.

 

[Randall Renshaw]

I’ve sized thin wide brimmed fur felt Borsalino fedoras up from 6 7/8 to 7 5/8; however, this of course necessities complete reblocking, a re-flange the brim, a new sweatband, and a new liner. It’s basically using the donor hat as a blank hat body. As far as keeping an existing hat and “stretching” it up, about half-size is all I can do without a high probability of seriously damaging the hat. I’ve had VS go up a whole size without any indication of it having been stretched. @Randall Renshaw has some sort of magic that allows seemingly unlimited stretching, but requires a complete disassembling and then reassembling of the hat.

Thanks, Brent. I have developed a “magical” dependable way to stretch up two sizes, without replacing or damaging the original sweatband; if in great condition, but no farther than two sizes. True, dark wizardry might need to be employed to go past that.
The sweatband not only has to appear in good condition, but also has to be in good condition; not suffering from dry rot. Sometimes you can be fooled if you don’t test it first.
I don’t recommend that anyone try a resizing method on super rare vintage hats in great condition, but if you’re bold enough to give it a go please refer to old threads for guidance. There’s likely many ways to skin a cat wearing a too small hat.
My method has been described somewhere in here. Don’t remember which thread, but if you search the words “turnbuckle hat stretcher” I think you may eventually find the correct thread.