Stretching my Wormser - don't make my mistakes...

[Snrbfshn]

I bought a couple of vintage stretchers on ebay. What can any of you tell me about the "Kant Break" stretchers? They're almost twice the width (depth?) of my Noggintops stretcher, with gradations in hat size and inches.

I used it for the first time on my Wormser Royal Luxury, which was just a touch small for my 7 1/4 head. My first mistake with the hat was not realizing how fragile the sweatband might be, tearing it at the stitches when I tried to turn the band down to put some leather conditioner on it prior to stretching. Dang.

My next mistake was stretching it too much as I steamed the hat. It's now a full 7 3/8. It looks ok on me, but is a little too loose.

Is there a way to unstretch a hat once it's a little too big? I can put some cork inside the band. But after tearing the stitches out I want to handle the sweatband as little as possible.

 

[Andykev]

Take it easy on stretching vintage, brittle leather.

Unfortunately, your sweatband has separated from the bead. The leather appears to be rather brittle, which is normal for age. Your hat appears to be 50+ years old, so that is to be expected. I ONCE overly stretched a fine hat, and the sweatband stitching pulled out at the rear bow, where the two ends are sewn together. I sent it to Optimo and had the "gap" closed with a small peice of binding to hold the split. I didn't want the sweat replaced, as it was in excellent vintage condition. The intent was to upsize a 7 1/4 to a 3/8.

On your hat, I suggest sending it out to have it reblocked, and the sweat changed. It will make the hat 100% more usable and comfortable. How's the felt? Clean and no mothing? It looks nice.

As to over stretching a hat, can you make it smaller? Well, yes. I have found it harder to increase the size permanately.. I have several beautiful hats that are a bit snug, to 1/8 inch in size too small. The hats seem to revert back to their factory size when stored in the box during periods of storage/seasonal changes. For your hat, try applying a bit of steam, and placing it in the box or upside down (crown side down) at room temp. with NO stretcher in it. May go back to it's regular size..but I can't tell how hard you torqued the felt with that iron monster. The "can't break" was the stretcher, not the felt and sweat

Some of my regular hats tend to "tighten up" a tad from time to time, and a gentle stretch is in order. Exceptions to this rule are the high end vintage and Montecristi, which are perfect season to season.

 

[Snrbfshn]

Thanks, yes...

The hat's in very good shape. No moth divots or staining. One thing's a little curious, however. It has a wind trolley button, but no cord. The button is sewn directly to the bow. (Can't really see it in the above pix; I'll add one later tonight.)

The original price is still inside the sweatband, $7.50, so it was a pretty good hat in its earlier days. But no cord on the button? Was Wormser trying to create an impression of being a more expensive hat? Did it have a cord once, it broke, and the owner sewed to button to the bow? Anybody else seen similar hats with button sans cord?

 

[Andykev]

Buton button, who has a button?

Some manufacturers applied decorative wind catcher trolly cords and buttons. I have a hat with an elastic band and button that just loops around the hat. It it totally non functional. Your hat may have had the button sewn on as an adornment only.