Repairing A Hole In A Felt Fur Hat

[Uncle Vern]

Does anyone know if it's possible to repair a small split in the crown crease of a felt fur hat?
Thanks, uncle vern

 

[MattC]

Ask the experts, but

I don't think that it is. You can put a piece of binding behind it, but you can't fix the outside surface.

 

[vespasian]

I fixed a tear in an old felt hat. Ive had a brown fedora for years and its pretty beaten up though some patching and reblocking did help a lot. It had a couple of little tears in it and I fixed them with a bit of innovation and patience. I would definately not do this to a decent hat as its not a perfect solution but it kept an old friend alive.
I used superglue on the inside, squeezing it into the fabric but dabbing away with tissue the tiniest bit that showed through to the outer. It fixed the rend totally but left a stain on the inside. The outside had a dip where the fix was made so I took a nail file and took a little from around the edge of the brim, very lightly working a bit of the felt free as a kind of dust. I then used a clear glue to mix this into a paste and worked it into the dip adding a bit on the surface. Close scrutiny will definately show that a mend had been made but from face to face distance and a cursory glance shows next to nothing. As I said, I wouldnt try this with a decent hat unless it was to do this or throw the thing away. It might be an idea to phone a milliner and ask their advice before trying little tricks like the one I describe.

 

[Andykev]

You are DOOMED

Felt is not a fabric. It cannot be rewoven. It cannot be repaired. It is made thru the process of "felting". Heat, friction, and so on..

Once the hat is completed, it is "it". You can glue a piece of backing on the inside of the hat, and using clear glue, "repair" it. But it won't ever, ever, be the same.

Moth "divots", shallow ones, can be "filled" by applying a tiny bit of clear glue and "shavings of felt" scraped from an inconspicuous part of the hat and glued into place, then smoothed, sanded, and ironed.

Felt is one of the strongest "fabrics", again it is not a fabric, known to man. Tough as nails.

 

[Uncle Vern]

I actually repaired a tear in the same manner as vespasian. I have an old hat that was a gift, and fairly beat. There was a tear in the top along a crease line, about a quarter of an inch long, and getting longer. I used very thin super glue to bind the split, and then I steamed, poked and sanded until it looked good. I don't think anyone would notice it unless I pointed it out. Importantly, it stopped the tear from getting larger. As wll as it worked, though, I can't help but think that dropping the hat upside-down accidently might re-open the split.
My purpose in asking for advice was to see if someone had a better method. Art Fawcett suggested the "piece of tape under the tear" method, which I have also employed to great effect. It would seem that a patch of felt fur could be glued under a split with either super glue or a thin acryllic glue, or mybe even artist's rabbit skin glue. Maybe we can get some of the rocket scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratory to come up with a real fix, and for deep worm holes, too.

 

[Magus]

Hi all there is this hat that has a hole in it exactly 1/16th of an inch, I am guessing that it was from a pin. As a kid I remeber seeing this product on TV where you took small shavings or clippings of the coat you were trying to fix and mixed it with a powder then ironed it and the hole was gone. I always wondered if that worked...but it makes me ask is there something like that for hats? If not, is this repairable or should I just go on down the road?

Thanks
M

 

[jamespowers]

It takes time and practice so you might want to go down the road if the other hat in that group is not worth it. You have the general idea about shaving off some of the material, test fitting it and then, with a piece of backing material to hold it in place, you put a little glue in the hole and press the shavings in to fit and blend it in.
If the price is right then you might try it. It would be experience that is for sure.

Regards,

J

 

[my dog bit my hat]

Does anyone know if it's possible to repair a small split in the crown crease of a felt fur hat?
Thanks, uncle vern

YES....don't use crazy glue...It will leave a stiff shiny spot. Use Talas jade glue....it is archival...and stays flexible. Use very little on edge of hole....and closing gap....for the fibers to absorb some glue to strengthen ...and then apply final amount and tap surface of hat between fingers or finger and table... keeping the surface aligned as one.

 

[bond]

I usually cut small piece of silk or liner material and adhere to back side of damaged area with good results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[my dog bit my hat]

One of the holes my dog made in grabbing and shaking this hat is on the brim, circled in this photo. Not a good location for liner material. The Talas Jade glue worked fine. It should work fine on small holes where you can align edges for gluing. There are 3 holes that were repaired on this hat. I bet you cannot see the other two.

 

[bond]

Silk patch is meant for crown issues not brim fixes.
Why is your dog playing with your hat anyway


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RJR]

Silk patch is meant for crown issues not brim fixes.
Why is your dog playing with your hat anyway


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fair question.

 

[alanfgag]

Because beautiful vintage hats show good taste.

 

[my dog bit my hat]

My very distinguished Scottish terrier does have good taste. He is also well mannered. Any new item in the house he brings to my side and drops to inquire whether this item is for him or not. As I had just taken my fedora out of a decade long storage, it was unfamiliar to him. He brought it along for me to inspect, with an irresistible shake along the way. BTW, My fedora was made by Battersby (London) purchased in Milan at Rossi in the mid 90's

 

[RJR]

Because beautiful vintage hats show good taste.

Great pic!

 

[Alexander Sommerset]

I have been able to cosmetically help a small, round hole by using sandpaper on the hat, then balling up the fur that was shaved off and gluing it into the hole with Elmers. This won't work if the hole is too big.

 

[DNO]

I recently fixed a split in the crown of my old beater Whippet. I used a mixture of shaved felt (from inside the hat) with white glue. I put this on the inside (don't overdo it) to stabilize the split. Then I carefully applied some white glue to the split from the outside and let it all dry. Worked a charm...split is no longer open or visible and it seems stable. The repair is also near invisible, surprisingly enough. I did this on a grey fedora and could always see the repair. This Whippet is dark brown. Seems to hide the repair a lot better.

 

[RJR]

I recently fixed a split in the crown of my old beater Whippet. I used a mixture of shaved felt (from inside the hat) with white glue. I put this on the inside (don't overdo it) to stabilize the split. Then I carefully applied some white glue to the split from the outside and let it all dry. Worked a charm...split is no longer open or visible and it seems stable. The repair is also near invisible, surprisingly enough. I did this on a grey fedora and could always see the repair. This Whippet is dark brown. Seems to hide the repair a lot better.

I've done pretty much the same with good results.

 

[Anubis]

I'm bumping this instead of starting a new post
It's called super mend, I remember it on tv..

Here's an Amazon link https://www.amazon.com/bonding-powder-SUPERMEND-countries-container/dp/B00FK86OSY

They also have mending crystals on eBay, same type of thing..

My questions now.. has anyone tried this?

Do you think it would work ?

Can anyone or would anyone be willing to test it ?

The idea would be to cut a round plug out of the hat behind the leather sweatband, literally a hole chunk not just fibers using a hobby razor knife, then fallow ing the mending powder instructions with the iron on a wool setting, apparently it takes 5 to 10 seconds of heat..

Then to lightly sand the repaired area with a sanding sponge or a harder bristle brush, a little more farmer then a horse hair brush to blend it..

Then you'd have a repair that could be dry cleaned down the road, all these glue fixes would possibly break down in dry cleaning solvents or petroleum based solvents apparently this says it can be dry cleaned..

 

[Perry Underwood]

I'm bumping this instead of starting a new post
It's called super mend, I remember it on tv..

Here's an Amazon link https://www.amazon.com/bonding-powder-SUPERMEND-countries-container/dp/B00FK86OSY

They also have mending crystals on eBay, same type of thing..

My questions now.. has anyone tried this?

Do you think it would work ?

Can anyone or would anyone be willing to test it ?

The idea would be to cut a round plug out of the hat behind the leather sweatband, literally a hole chunk not just fibers using a hobby razor knife, then fallow ing the mending powder instructions with the iron on a wool setting, apparently it takes 5 to 10 seconds of heat..

Then to lightly sand the repaired area with a sanding sponge or a harder bristle brush, a little more farmer then a horse hair brush to blend it..

Then you'd have a repair that could be dry cleaned down the road, all these glue fixes would possibly break down in dry cleaning solvents or petroleum based solvents apparently this says it can be dry cleaned..

Welcome to The Lounge.

The link you provided goes to an Amazon page that states the product is currently unavailable and "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

However, the company making Super Mend has a website. Here's the link:

http://www.supermend.co.uk/

There's another product called Bo-Nash. Here's an Amazon link to it:

https://www.amazon.com/Bo-Nash-Bond...pID=51VjpdCf53L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch