The Conversion Corral

[LoveMyHats2]

To do something to "fray" the end of a ribbon, I wonder if after you had enough of the individual threads, that you would desire to apply some thin small bead of some type of material glue, to aide it from coming loose thread by thread (unraveling), on the back side of it, hidden from view?

 

[TheDane]

No, grosgrain ribbon unravels very unwillingly. You actually have to do quite a bit of work to make it fray

Sometimes I have also "stolen" some thread from the ribbon itself to get a precise color-match for the stitching. With some ribbon it can be next to impossible to get a piece, longer than few inches.

 

[John Galt]

This will be a photo heavy post. I've been working on a fellow lounger's hat for a while, trying to fix it up and create a clone of my old Playboy.

Before:

 

[John Galt]

During, the ribbon was died to match the "apricot" hat color from a vintage yellow grosgrain...

Incidentally, the sweatband bow will be sewn in before I'm done, if you noticed it's not there...

 

[John Galt]

Now, after brim cutting, pouncing, and re flanging:

The hat is still wet, so the tip is sticking up a bit too much on the hat stand, but that's since been re-shaped to a proper teardrop.

I re-blocked on a vintage straight sided block, and notwithstanding that, it does seem to want to drift back to a little more tapered crown. It's not very bad though, and it's otherwise looking pretty good as a Playboy clone, I think.

That's my early 1950's Playboy on the right.

 

[job]

Very nice John.

Sent from my XT1049 using Tapatalk

 

[John Galt]

It's dry now, so I can snap the brim:

 

[John Galt]

Very nice John.

Sent from my XT1049 using Tapatalk

Thank you sir! I am pleased, so I'm pretty sure the customer will be also. Just need to put the liner & sweatband bow in. Then I'm going to finish Splintercellz' Knapp Felt & resize one for another fella. Looking forward to catching up...

 

[Strapped-4-Cache]

John,

You have a very satisfied customer, especially considering the sad state of the hat in the original pics. I'm looking forward to wearing it.

- Mark

 

[T Jones]

Thank you sir! I am pleased, so I'm pretty sure the customer will be also. Just need to put the liner & sweatband bow in. Then I'm going to finish Splintercellz' Knapp Felt & resize one for another fella. Looking forward to catching up...

I was wondering, just this morning, when you were going to post pics of another conversion...the Playboy clone looks really nice John! You did a great job on that! I really like that color too. Nice! Really nice! Now all we need is my Lawless Hardy hat conversion!

 

[John Galt]

John,

You have a very satisfied customer, especially considering the sad state of the hat in the original pics. I'm looking forward to wearing it.

- Mark

Thanks, Mark. That's just how I hop!

Happy Easter!

Edit - It's pretty amazing how much can be done with a beat up old hat. As long as the felt is sound, all things are possible.

 

[John Galt]

I was wondering, just this morning, when you were going to post pics of another conversion...the Playboy clone looks really nice John! You did a great job on that! I really like that color too. Nice! Really nice! Now all we need is my Lawless Hardy hat conversion!

Thanks Terry! I'm getting much closer...

 

[CRH]

Looking forward to more of your work, John Galt. Well done.

 

[Geldoc]

Beautiful job, John.

 

[John Galt]

Thank you fellows. I have shaped several brims by hand, but this is my first true brim flanging with a bag. Olė is right. You don't get these kind of results doing it by hand.

Maybe with an iron and a flange. That's how I got the last little wrinkles out.

Anyway, you really do want to get a proper flange if you can.

 

[ManofKent]

I'm finally getting round to my Stagecoach conversion. No brim cutter, so I used a flange to chalk a cut line, then shears - thankfully it worked well and after a little pouncing is perfectly oval to the eye at least. Now to pounce the body - that's going to take some time with the felt thickness!

 

[John Galt]

Sounds like fun! I love doing this stuff. It charges me up to make beautiful things.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Nice work on that "hat revival".

I would cut it with a penknife or a paring knife as if you were skinning an animal - so as to minimize the damage to the felt. Better to cut the sweat than the felt. Then, lay on a sweat to fit, cut it across both sides of the sweat at the overlap in one cut so that they match, and sew it together, and in. Or just send it to me, and I'll take care it for you...

Sending this to you would imply more $100 in investment on this hat. I can do this, sewing to me is not a problem at all. How can I unglue this?

With this overlap, fits a bit tight so I would want to keep the most of the sweatband without trimming it (or trim the less I can) to have it a bit more loose.

 

[ManofKent]

Without knowing the glue used it's difficult. Acetone - nail varnish remover might work, but apply sparingly as it will dry out the leather.

 

[John Galt]

Joao,

Thank you for your comment on the renovation.

Getting the sweat wet might work, but if it's very dry it may cause it to wrinkle into a "slinky." If you try that, make sure to condition the leather well first.

Scrap booking stores sell a product that dissolves glue - that might be worth a try.

Otherwise, if you want to retain the same sweat, you might be forced to "skin" the two ends apart as suggested above.

There's a good chance you'll end up putting in a new sweat.

I often snip the identifying characteristics from old sweats and glue them under a new sweatband with spray glue. That's another option if you want to save the provenance of the hat. I have no other suggestions, sadly.