Stretching a hat 1"?

[adamgottschalk]

[I searched the forums and didn't happen to find any threads; pointers appreciated.] There's a nice vintage hat I'm interested in buying. My head is pretty much exactly 23". This 7 1/4 Champ is 22". I've had great success with my hat stretcher when my hats start to shrink up a bit. Is stretching a hat a whole inch maybe too much to ask?

 

[MattC]

It really depends

Some hats take the stretching very well, some don't. An inch seems like a lot to me. Graham at Optimo used to say never try to stretch more than one size.

 

[Magus]

Make sure you remove the ribbon first...after that you will face two real problems. First you might split the band...no way to tell if or when that will happen. Second even when you do get it sized up, unless you are stretching the whole crown, you will have a sort of stepped look to the crown where the top of your stretcher reached. You can somewhat fix that with steam and a bottle. I have on a Vintage Lee that started its life as a 7 1/4...was taken to 22 7/8" at some point in its life...and I took it to 23 3/8 when I got it. There is a slight step to the crown not not enough to make it look bad.


M

 

[MattC]

Way to avoid splitting the sweatband

Buy some Lexol, gently pull the sweatband down all around, and soak the inside surface with Lexol. Let it sit overnight. Do it again. When it appears the band is saturated, let it dry and stretch (steaming the hat first of course). This will not only minimize (but not eliminate) the chance of splitting, it will make the stretch a lot easier. James powers did some stretching directions a while back. I'll try to find them.

 

[MattC]

James Powers on stretching

Here are a couple of posts James Powers put up on stretching:

1. Do you have a hat stretcher?? If not, just about any western wear shop has them. They are also on ebay. After you get one, very, very, VERY gently pull the sweatband down. The top stitching can pull loose, so I emphasize the word "gently" and then wet the inside of the leather with a sponge, put it back down and then put the stretcher in it and crank it out to where it just extends past it normal size a little. Let it set over night and see what happens. I've done this on numerous hats and it always works to some degree. It's worth a try and will be cheaper than sending it out. The stretching will distort the crown while you are doing this, but don't worry about that right now, you can rework it later if you can get the size stretched back out.
2. I was going to suggest using Lexol but the product you mentioned was fine. I assume you took the paper out as well. The paper distorts the sweatband. It will stay that way unless you treat it or stretch it back into shape. Sometimes you have to do both. The leather sort of has a memory as well. It will return to its original shape when the dryness is alleviated. Now you have to hit it with fairly warm steam to get the stiffener already in the core to revive. I do the crown first but some do the brim first. Either is fine but I like to start from the top.First steam the crown into shape. The felt will relax and let you shape it. Hit the area you want to shape with the steam until you can feel the heat with you hand inside the hat. Not hot but warm. Shape the top of the crown and then put in the forward dents or whatever you like. Let this cool and watch that it holds its shape as it does. It can take some coaxing.After that has cooled down to your liking (you can re steam it if it is not quite right), work on the brim. Get the front of the brim to snap down and hold it. If you want the back to snap up you have to do that after you have the front holding its shape. Re-steam as you need it. It is a bit of work and you could go through a kettle of water but it will make it look good enough to wear.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

If it's close, just wearing can stretch it a bit. My Resistol stingy was advertised as a 7-3/8 but it had 7-1/4 stamped in ink on the inside of the sweat. I used a stretcher very gingerly, but just wearing it caused it to fit better. I guess the warmth and moisture of the scalp helped.

 

[thefedorastore]

Man! A whole inch scares me!! lol

 

[Pilgrim]

I think an inch is overly optimistic. I have stretched three or four hats from 7 1/8 to 7 1/4, but that's only about 3/8 of an inch.

The felt can probably do it, but good luck with the sweatband...you might just make it work with enough Lexol, although if I were going to use the Lexol as outlined above, I'd put waxed paper between the sweatband and felt to keep it off the felt - and I'd probably also tape waxed paper on the hat stretcher to keep the sweatband from sticking to the wooden body of the hat stretcher. I've used a dab of shoe stretch on sweatbands and found that it tends to make them stick to the hat stretcher.

As for the ribbon - you'd surely have to replace it.

 

[matei]

I recently stretched one up from 7 1/4 to 7 3/8, and I got that "step" that Magus referred to. My stretcher isn't tall enough to extend into the crown. Ideally one would use a hatblock.

I found that in this hat, the band stretched with no problem, however it does want to go back to its original size.

It was much, much easier to do once I moistened the leather however.

My experiments have shown that it is an OK fix, but the hat will have to go eventually to one of our resident hatters for expert attention.

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

Be careful

I stretched my "rescue" Resistol San Antonio from 7 up to 7 1/4 with a Hat Jack. I got that "stepped" look that was described by Magus, but with some steam and a pint glass got rid of that. I hadn't sent it off to replace the missing sweatband. Stretching a hat one size works most times and two sizes some times, but I agree with the others regarding breaking the sweatband. Be careful.

 

[LeFonque]

Hmm! One inch seems a heck of a lot. Hope that the measurement is a little underestimated. Stretching the hat is problematic with many factors coming into play. Good luck!

 

[Mike K.]

Anybody tried one of these?

Pretty cool old hat stretcher on eBay right now

Here's the link: http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/37...006QQitemZ160005369711QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Looks like something Uncle Fester would use.

lol

 

[gekisai29]

I think I've got my eye on the same Champ.... so don't try to stretch it that much, ok? Hope it won't be a showdown at high noon but good luck.

 

[FedoraGent]

Pretty cool old hat stretcher on eBay right now

Here's the link: http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/37...006QQitemZ160005369711QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Oh my gosh! They have that at both hat stores that I frequent. Cool...but looks heavy. I'd hate to move it. Oh and btw mate... I agree with the others... 1 inch is a bit much.

 

[jpdesign]

If you send it to me I can reblock and put in a new sweatband and get your inch. You will lose about 1/8' of brim width.

Jimmy

 

[ideaguy]

streching hats

Pretty cool old hat stretcher on eBay right now

Here's the link: http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/37...006QQitemZ160005369711QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

I'm gonna die. Right here in this chair. $20.- closing bid/winning bid for something I desperately need to get my hats in shape? GRRRR. Anyone else wants to sell one, I'll pay a few dollars more (cue the music, please)