mattface
Practically Family
- Messages
- 877
- Location
- Montpelier, VT
The new sweatband came for my 3x from Panama Bob today, and with halloween around the corner, there's no time like the present to fix my son's Indy costume hat (which also happens to be one fo my favorite hats for daily wear).
I was thinking that sewing in the sweatband would be most of the job, what I wasn't realizing was that in order to do this job properly I'd be stripping the hat down to the bare felt shell, and putting it all back together in the end, so a sweat replacement winds up being a full rebuild.
Here's a couple pics of the hat stripped.
I measured the band on my own head,trimmed it and sewed the ends together with a zigzag stitch on the sewing machine. I was looking for a way to sew the band on the sewing machine, but there's no way my foot will ever get in tight enough to the reed.
Tacking in the sweatband proved to be rather tricky. I really struggled with it for a while, tacked it in 8 places, then sewed 3/4 of the way around the band before I realized I'd been doing a lousy job of it, it was loose and ill fitting, so i cout it out and started over.
The trick to getting it tacked down correctly is to tack as close t the seam in the reed as possible, and then on the line where the old stitching was on the outside of the hat. I just passed the thread in and out once and tied it off. The second time around I was getting impatient and only tacked it in 4 places.
The trick to sewing the band in is to stitch high on the reed as close to the piping as you can get without going through the leather band or over the piping, then running the stitch in the line with the old stitching. I found it helped to pass the stitch out , then in, then flex the band in and out while pulling the thread tight yo get the reed to settle in up against the corner. I was able to do a passable job of geting the band sewn in straight and snug. With that done, I felt accomplished, but the work was barely more than halfway done.
Next I started sewing the lining back in only to realize I was doing things in the wrong order, cut it back out, and started reattaching the ribbon. I'd washed both ribbon and lining in the bathroom sink with some laundry detergent, and the band had shrunk WAY too short. It took a lot of stretching on the couch arm to get it back on the hat. I tacked it in place with tiny loops of brown thread.
Sewing the lining in is not that tricky, but it's still takes time I was tempted at this point just to glue it in like on more modern hats, but I wanted to keep this hat as close to original as possible, so I sewed it in like it originally was. I also poked myself with the needle and left a tiny red dot on the lining, fortunately it's hidden by the sweatband.
For the finishing touch I put the original bow back on. I put it on upside down the first time, cut it out and put it back in right.
Having done this job it amazes me how little most hatters charge to do it. I know I spent a lot of time learning from my mistakes, and I figure a pro can work much faster than I can, but it's still a lot of work. I'm glad I did it, it gives me a much better idea of how a hat goes together then I could ever glean from just looking at it, and it gives me the satisfaction of a job done well, and I got it done faster, but there is certainly nothing wrong with paying a pro to do this job for you. I only wish there was someone near me so I wouldn't also have to pay to mail it to and fro.
I was thinking that sewing in the sweatband would be most of the job, what I wasn't realizing was that in order to do this job properly I'd be stripping the hat down to the bare felt shell, and putting it all back together in the end, so a sweat replacement winds up being a full rebuild.
Here's a couple pics of the hat stripped.
I measured the band on my own head,trimmed it and sewed the ends together with a zigzag stitch on the sewing machine. I was looking for a way to sew the band on the sewing machine, but there's no way my foot will ever get in tight enough to the reed.
Tacking in the sweatband proved to be rather tricky. I really struggled with it for a while, tacked it in 8 places, then sewed 3/4 of the way around the band before I realized I'd been doing a lousy job of it, it was loose and ill fitting, so i cout it out and started over.
The trick to getting it tacked down correctly is to tack as close t the seam in the reed as possible, and then on the line where the old stitching was on the outside of the hat. I just passed the thread in and out once and tied it off. The second time around I was getting impatient and only tacked it in 4 places.
The trick to sewing the band in is to stitch high on the reed as close to the piping as you can get without going through the leather band or over the piping, then running the stitch in the line with the old stitching. I found it helped to pass the stitch out , then in, then flex the band in and out while pulling the thread tight yo get the reed to settle in up against the corner. I was able to do a passable job of geting the band sewn in straight and snug. With that done, I felt accomplished, but the work was barely more than halfway done.
Next I started sewing the lining back in only to realize I was doing things in the wrong order, cut it back out, and started reattaching the ribbon. I'd washed both ribbon and lining in the bathroom sink with some laundry detergent, and the band had shrunk WAY too short. It took a lot of stretching on the couch arm to get it back on the hat. I tacked it in place with tiny loops of brown thread.
Sewing the lining in is not that tricky, but it's still takes time I was tempted at this point just to glue it in like on more modern hats, but I wanted to keep this hat as close to original as possible, so I sewed it in like it originally was. I also poked myself with the needle and left a tiny red dot on the lining, fortunately it's hidden by the sweatband.
For the finishing touch I put the original bow back on. I put it on upside down the first time, cut it out and put it back in right.
Having done this job it amazes me how little most hatters charge to do it. I know I spent a lot of time learning from my mistakes, and I figure a pro can work much faster than I can, but it's still a lot of work. I'm glad I did it, it gives me a much better idea of how a hat goes together then I could ever glean from just looking at it, and it gives me the satisfaction of a job done well, and I got it done faster, but there is certainly nothing wrong with paying a pro to do this job for you. I only wish there was someone near me so I wouldn't also have to pay to mail it to and fro.
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