Should I defeather this Stetson??

[Dewhurst]

It is obvious that you wish to remove it. The fact that I have removed every feather from every fedora I have ever owned should not persuade you one way or the other! (Sarcasm)

Also, the feathers are usually very easy to remove. Sometimes they feel snug but they will come right out (mostly). Even on cheapish Chinese made hats from companies I have never heard of they just slide right on out and aren't glued in or anything.

You should be OK to just pull it out, and there really shouldn't be any marks left behind. Then again, there is a first time for everything.

EDIT: Clarity

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

Yeah...

Well, of course I hate the feather and want to take it out. But I've never done so and if everyone were to say that taking it out would be a bad idea, I'd leave it in. That's what I'm asking here.

 

[Dewhurst]

Well, of course I a=hate the feather and want to take it out. But I've never done so and if everyone were to say that taking it out would be a bad idea, I'd leave it in. That's what I'm asking here.

If we all said that it is a bad idea and you took one cursory glance at our avatars and the "What hat are you wearing today?" threads you would see we were all hypocrites as almost none of us actually have a feather in our hats.

Normally they will come right out. Some people like to exchange feathers they have received to make it match better or clash more loudly.

I always keep mine in a little baggie, but I'm not sure what I will ever do with them.

 

[Pompidou]

Unfortunately, feathers do indeed slip right out. I didn't bother even looking for a feather for the Art Fawcett hat, because I drive with the window down 3/4 of the year, and the feathers never stay in.

 

[zetwal]

I didn't bother even looking for a feather for the Art Fawcett hat, because I drive with the window down 3/4 of the year, and the feathers never stay in.

I thought you wanted to put a playing card there ... What happened?

 

[handlebar bart]

This should be a poll. Keep the feather..[huh]

 

[RBH]

A hat needs a feather like a fish needs a bicycle....

Cuz'in Tom said it best......

 

[Big_e]

Keep the feathers but take those wispy one in the front of the bunch off.
Ernest

 

[Cane Rod Maker]

The feathers

Peprsonal choice MV. I don't really care for them much anymore myself. I liked having one in the begining, with one hat, but then ditched for a clean look; old school look I guess.

It'll come right out, it's very likely just tucked in behind the bow. The feather plum is likely just held together at base of the stems whith a whipping of thread. Remove, throw it in the desk drawer. You can always slip it back in if you desire the look to change things up; best of both worlds I guess.

 

[Pompidou]

I thought you wanted to put a playing card there ... What happened?

If I can find the perfect card, I might, but what happened was a large discrepancy between pre-process imagination and end results. You know how everyone was so surprised at how the hat looked when it was finished? Well so was I. It's way better than the thing in my imagination, but I'm not sure if I should stick anything in the ribbon at all.

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

Thanks

Thanks for the input, fellas.

I think when the hat gets here I'll tug at them feathers a bit and see how firmly they are ensconced. If not too bad, I'll pluck 'em.

 

[shortbow]

When I encounter these I usually remove the feather and replace with a small fishing fly. A couple of my other hats have a bit of grouse or hawk feather, but just a small bit. On a Sunday-go-to-meetin' hat, nothing A-tall.

 

[Pompidou]

There was a thread about unique hat pins on here somewhere, and I think those are a lot better than feathers, because they're different. If you have a pin that really represents you, why not stick it on instead? I wouldn't mind doing this myself, except a very large majority of pins are military backed, and you'd have to pierce the hat itself and have a brass nub chafing your head. I won't even stick a pin through the ribbon of my Art Fawcett hat, so that's not an option now, but when I still had my Baileys' porkpie, I was hunting for pins like crazy.

 

[John in Covina]

The feather question seems to come up every couple of years. In the past MOST people will take the feather out. I have never heard of one on a fedora type hat that was permanently attached. I'd suggest that you put it in an envelope or small box and pop it into the hat box to keep should some type of regret set in.

Feathers are a very personal item. I recall seeing some place an advertisement of a set of feathers for the feather lover fedora wearer that allowed you to change what feather you had in your hat as an accesorizing accompanyment. The ones I have pulled from my hats eventually seem to disintergrate maybe you have to keep them in special conditions to last, I don't know.

 

[in/y]

Lose the feather for sure, the only thing that belongs in a hat ribbon (occasionally) is a card that says "Press".

 

[theinterchange]

Did a turkey crawl into that ribbon and die?! I say get rid of it.

Randy

 

[BanjoMerlin]

Feathers are a very personal item. I recall seeing some place an advertisement of a set of feathers for the feather lover fedora wearer that allowed you to change what feather you had in your hat as an accesorizing accompanyment. The ones I have pulled from my hats eventually seem to disintergrate maybe you have to keep them in special conditions to last, I don't know.

I remember my grandmother showing me a small box almost filled with hat feathers that had belonged to my grandfather. The shop where he bought his hats included buyer's choice of a feather with each hat. He didn't wear feathers on his hat but since he'd paid for a feather he brought one home and put it in the box.

When she passed the box got thrown away.

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

OK, I did dump the feathers

Got the hat today, pulled out the feather and put them in the box. They were just stuck in there without any glue or anything to hold it in.