drmaxtejeda
I'll Lock Up
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- 8,352
- Location
- Mexico City
Excellent news, John!Hey all!
Here"s a refurb project I've been working on.
Almost a year ago I saw this hat on Etsy. Marked only with 'Brandon' and 'Showerproof', it just had something to it that caught my eye and held my attention. Several weeks of wembling later, I bought it. Didn't get pics of it out of the box, as it was in need of some steam and love before it was presentable.
I did get some pics of the sweat and tags and liner.
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Unfortunately, shortly after I took these pics, the stitching holding the unreeded sweatband to the felt disintegrated.
Bummer.
As my vision was not up to the task of sewing in a new sweat, I considered sending it out to one of the hatters here on the Lounge, and then the world went crazy. I decided to save my money for important things like TP and hand sanitizer. Oh yeah, all that rice and dry beans too...
So the hat sat on a shelf, gathering dust and more wrinkles.
Then, a couple months ago, I went in for an eye exam, and found out that my declining vision was due to cataracts, not from a worsening of my retinopathy as I had feared. I got one eye done, then the other a month later. I'm still blind from the previous damage done by the diabetes, but now have a lot more light and color in my life, and a bit more detail as well. With the help of a pair of magnifying eyeglasses I decided to try a sweatband replacement. Turned out the old ribbon was disintegrating from age as well, so a full refurb was in order.
My sewing machine kept jamming as I tried to do the sweatband seam, so it took a few tries. My worst seam ever, looks like someone pulled all the pins out of the dude from Hellraiser's face and strung a shoelace through some of the holes. But it held together. And, if I shoot it like this nobody knows.
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Here's a few unblocked.
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Closeup of the brim.
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The brim is 2 1/2",the open crown a full 6. Originally 121g with the unreeded sweat. The thin, dense felt is 80g of the weight. Now 131g (or 118g 1without the liner, which is how I"m keeping it).
I haven't heard of Brandon as a hat maker, so I'm guessing it was a jobber hat. The tags, dimensions, brim treatment, unreeded sweat and general condition of the hat make me think pre-war, but as always opinions pro and con are welcome.
Head shot.
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