The Conversion Corral

[humanshoes]

I finally finished sizing up and refurbishing this soiled and once moth bitten '60s era 3X Open Road. I reused as much as I could that was original to the hat, 3/8 ribbon and bow, sweat band bow,...and I even put the original 7 1/8 size tag back in it even though it's now a 7 1/4. I also put in a new sweat and another liner that is like the original that came out of it. The old liner had small holes all through it. I lost a little brim width with the reblocking and size up. The original brim width was 2 3/4 but now sports a 2 5/8 reflanged snap brim. It has a straight medium tall crown that is creased in my preferred tear drop crease. There's always satisfaction whenever an old classic can be saved and worn again. It turned out to be a nice hat that's comfortable to wear.

Here's a few 'Before and After' pics:

After:

On the head:

Excellent transformation on that one Terry! It's great that you've saved yet another nice old hat.

 

[T Jones]

Excellent transformation on that one Terry! It's great that you've saved yet another nice old hat.

Thank you Rick! I appreciate that!

 

[T Jones]

I finally finished the ribbon and bow work on this Silverbelly Stagecoach conversion. I had a thin ribbon on it originally but the hat didn't look right to me because of its tall crown. While I'm hesitant to put a contrasting color on Silverbelly, this 1 1/2 Burgundy ribbon seemed to work out pretty good.

I gave the bow just a touch of an upward swoop...

On the head. I'm not exactly wearing the right outfit with this hat. It would be better suited if it was paired with a sport jacket rather than with a Carhartt...

 

[Rmccamey]

Another nice one, TJ. I have not seen you mess one up yet!

 

[Bill Hughes]

I finally finished the ribbon and bow work on this Silverbelly Stagecoach conversion. I had a thin ribbon on it originally but the hat didn't look right to me because of its tall crown. While I'm hesitant to put a contrasting color on Silverbelly, this 1 1/2 Burgundy ribbon seemed to work out pretty good.

I gave the bow just a touch of an upward swoop...

On the head. I'm not exactly wearing the right outfit with this hat. It would be better suited if it was paired with a sport jacket rather than with a Carhartt...

Love the color combination. I personally like contrasting colors.

 

[T Jones]

Love the color combination. I personally like contrasting colors.

Thank you, Bill. I have to say, it's definitely a nice looking hat. The pictures don't do it justice. The Burgundy on this one seems a little more muted than some colors and the contrast worked out well for it. The only thing with this hat is that it's more of a dress hat than casual.

 

[Bill Hughes]

Thank you, Bill. I have to say, it's definitely a nice looking hat. The pictures don't do it justice. The Burgundy on this one seems a little more muted than some colors and the contrast worked out well for it. The only thing with this hat is that it's more of a dress hat than casual.

Back is 2017 I bought a Stetson No. 1 conversion from @bond with a burgundy ribbon. I’ll probably never let it go.

 

[T Jones]

Another nice one, TJ. I have not seen you mess one up yet!

Thank you, buddy!
I'll keep my fingers crossed on that! Just in case!

 

[RBH]

Great job!
I think it pairs well with the Carhartt.

 

[T Jones]

Back is 2017 I bought a Stetson No. 1 conversion from @bond with a burgundy ribbon. I’ll probably never let it go.

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Yeah, Burgundy worked ou

Great job!
I think it pairs well with the Carhartt.

Thank you, buddy!

 

[T Jones]

Just finished putting some more 1 1/2 Burgundy ribbon on a Silverbelly Bradford LTD. This one started out as a 7 1/8 OR clone. I took it apart a couple of years ago to size it up and after I reblocked it, I accidentally ripped through the back of the hat when I was putting in the brim break. Needless to say, I was sick over it. I stripped it down of its ribbon work and brim binding and used it on another project. I really liked this hat so I thought I'd try to see if I could save it. I taped it up from the inside and then I stitched and reblocked it again. After I took it off the block it felt solid and everything held together. I put another thin ribbon back on it but that didn't hide the stitching in the back. So, once again, I took the thin ribbon off and used it on yet, another hat project. After I put the Burgundy ribbon on my Stagecoach, I thought I'd do the same with this one and see how it would turn out. I used the same upswoop style on the bow work as I did on the Stagecoach except that the shorter of the double tailed bow swoops up higher than the longer one. Anyway, I was glad that I was able to save it. It's a little smaller in specs than the Stagecoach with its 2 1/2 brim width and its medium height crown, both are 7 1/4 in size, though...

Before: It ain't pretty, but it's solid.

You can still see the repair stitching when I had the thin ribbon on it

After: You can still barely see the stitch holes around the brim where the binding used to be, but I have an idea and a use for those stitch holes. But more on that later after I take a trip to the fabric store:

Stagecoach and Bradford, side by side: The Stagecoach with its taller straight crown at 5 inches all around as creased, and with its wider brim at 2 3/4, while the Bradford is no pushover with its more casual look and a straight sided respectable crown height, that's not exactly short, at 4 3/4 all around, as creased.

Ribbon work on the Bradford, and it hides the repair quite nicely:

 

[B.J. Hedberg]

Not a significant conversion, but I wanted to turn this silverbelly Stetson Premiere Stratoliner I picked up as a souvenir on a trip into something more to my liking. I had intended to cut out the sweatband and reblock it slightly taller to take the bring width down to 1 ¼”, but the starting width was wonky, so instead I simply stretched it over my hatshaper to make it more oblong, and added a moderate-sized ribbon and bow.

And with its new bash under natural and incandescent lighting.

 

[RBH]

Great job Terry.
2 1/2 inch brim has become my favorite... I believe it looks good on most everyone.

 

[RJR]

Great job Terry.
2 1/2 inch brim has become my favorite... I believe it looks good on most everyone.

Its taken awhile but I agree.

 

[hatophile]

Just finished putting some more 1 1/2 Burgundy ribbon on a Silverbelly Bradford LTD. This one started out as a 7 1/8 OR clone. I took it apart a couple of years ago to size it up and after I reblocked it, I accidentally ripped through the back of the hat when I was putting in the brim break. Needless to say, I was sick over it. I stripped it down of its ribbon work and brim binding and used it on another project. I really liked this hat so I thought I'd try to see if I could save it. I taped it up from the inside and then I stitched and reblocked it again. After I took it off the block it felt solid and everything held together. I put another thin ribbon back on it but that didn't hide the stitching in the back. So, once again, I took the thin ribbon off and used it on yet, another hat project. After I put the Burgundy ribbon on my Stagecoach, I thought I'd do the same with this one and see how it would turn out. I used the same upswoop style on the bow work as I did on the Stagecoach except that the shorter of the double tailed bow swoops up higher than the longer one. Anyway, I was glad that I was able to save it. It's a little smaller in specs than the Stagecoach with its 2 1/2 brim width and its medium height crown, both are 7 1/4 in size, though...

Before: It ain't pretty, but it's solid.

You can still see the repair stitching when I had the thin ribbon on it

After: You can still barely see the stitch holes around the brim where the binding used to be, but I have an idea and a use for those stitch holes. But more on that later after I take a trip to the fabric store:

Stagecoach and Bradford, side by side: The Stagecoach with its taller straight crown at 5 inches all around as creased, and with its wider brim at 2 3/4, while the Bradford is no pushover with its more casual look and a straight sided respectable crown height, that's not exactly short, at 4 3/4 all around, as creased.

Ribbon work on the Bradford, and it hides the repair quite nicely:

I like the Burgundy Terry, very nice.

Not a significant conversion, but I wanted to turn this silverbelly Stetson Premiere Stratoliner I picked up as a souvenir on a trip into something more to my liking. I had intended to cut out the sweatband and reblock it slightly taller to take the bring width down to 1 ¼”, but the starting width was wonky, so instead I simply stretched it over my hatshaper to make it more oblong, and added a moderate-sized ribbon and bow.

And with its new bash under natural and incandescent lighting.

Nice job BJ.

 

[T Jones]

I like the Burgundy Terry, very nice.


Nice job BJ.

Thank you, Perry!

 

[T Jones]

Its taken awhile but I agree.

Thank you, Bob.

 

[T Jones]

Great job Terry.
2 1/2 inch brim has become my favorite... I believe it looks good on most everyone.

Thank you, Rusty! This one's flanged a little flatter so it looks just a tad wider than it actually is.

 

[Bill Hughes]

I bought this vintage XXX from @DOGMAN a few months ago.



I wanted to convert it to a Whippet style fedora like this hat that sold on eBay a few months ago.



So I sent it to Art Fawcett. ... Continued in next post.

 

[Bill Hughes]

I bought this vintage XXX from @DOGMAN a few months ago.

View attachment 158702 View attachment 158703 View attachment 158704 View attachment 158697 View attachment 158698 View attachment 158699 View attachment 158700 View attachment 158701

I wanted to convert it to a Whippet style fedora like this hat that sold on eBay a few months ago.

View attachment 158705

So I sent it to Art Fawcett. ... Continued in next post.

I received it back today. Looks to me pretty much like an exact match. The brim was trimmed from 3 1/2" to 2 7/8". The ribbon is 1 5/8" and has a wide matching binding. Reused the liner and sweatband. So do I call this a 3X Whippet?