Wolfbrae Custom Hatters

[Gregory Wilde]

I am in the middle of making a funky modern Bowler for a lady in a dark purple felt. I don't have the right colour ribbon for the trim.......so I dyed some ivory ribbon to get the right colour and the match. View attachment 624859

Wow Robert..(.loyal Wolfbrae customer Gregory here)....glad to see you are "brimming": with business over the summer months. love all the colors...and all those ladies hats too!.. My hat (of course one of yours) is "tipped to you".
Great job on the new replacement for the fifty year old Aussie Akubra. I know you are fond of saying after you send a hat to a customer..(.in beaver or rabbit of course) .."Wear the hell out of it" That's so true really.....because when you do wear the hat a great deal.....the hat takes on a personality of its own as befits the wearer.

Cheers...keep those nimble fingers of yours active in your craft.....I know you do ..because there is always a que...but that's to be expected with a fine hat maker like you.

Cheers!
Gregory Wilde

 

[belfastboy]

Wow Robert..(.loyal Wolfbrae customer Gregory here)....glad to see you are "brimming": with business over the summer months. love all the colors...and all those ladies hats too!.. My hat (of course one of yours) is "tipped to you".
Great job on the new replacement for the fifty year old Aussie Akubra. I know you are fond of saying after you send a hat to a customer..(.in beaver or rabbit of course) .."Wear the hell out of it" That's so true really.....because when you do wear the hat a great deal.....the hat takes on a personality of its own as befits the wearer.

Cheers...keep those nimble fingers of yours active in your craft.....I know you do ..because there is always a que...but that's to be expected with a fine hat maker like you.

Cheers!
Gregory Wilde

Thank you!

 

[belfastboy]

Here is cute little Derby made for a lovely lady. Winchester rabbit felt in a dark purple. Hand dyed grosgrain on the brim and crown. Thought the hat had enough colour so just installed a white silk liner

 

[belfastboy]

Here are pictures of a Grade4 Panama made for a local client. 3/8" curl on a 3 1/2" brim, vintage grosgrain in Marine blue. Embroidered wolf paw on a

linen tip liner

 

[belfastboy]

Ok, this is def not a fedora. It is a hat I made many years ago in millinery school. A blue, Tonak rabbit felt. 4" bound brim with millinery wire on the brim edge. It has sat in a box in my shop unfinished all these years. I dug it out and my wife trimmed it with a silk sari border - lots of embroidery and sequins. A fun hat that deserved to be completed.

 

[belfastboy]

I find it interesting how orders come in waves. After not making a Bowler in over 2 years I have been commissioned to make 3 in the last month. First a brown, then a purple and yesterday my customer picked up his retirement gift to himself....a traditional black. Felt is Usst (Ukraine) with black vintage grosgrain.

 

[ILB Frank]

How many western weight /western style do you typically do (not counting the one that is coming up soon )?

 

[belfastboy]

How many western weight /western style do you typically do (not counting the one that is coming up soon )?

I don't get many western style commissions. Most often they are more likely the crossover style rather than the full western. If I make a full blown western it is most likely for myself. Also, don't work that often with western weight as the 160gr rabbit or beaver in the Usst felts are large or sturdy enough.

 

[belfastboy]

I do love a challenge. Here is a 40+ year old Borsalino my client purchased in Rome all those years ago. It has been an almost daily wearer and it shows. He asked me to do what I could to restore it.
Felt is in very good condition except for the wear point at the pinch...it is almost all the way through. I will reinforce it on the inside and then block it back to front. Ribbon is intact but well sun bleached. I am thinking of redyeing it ...trusting it survives the process. Liner is soiled, stained and the Borsa logo is gone. But the leather sweat is still supple. Hat needs a bit of stiffening all round as well. Will post the after pics in a few weeks.

 

[belfastboy]

Here are two pictures of a recent Akubra Sydney rebuild. Hat was well worn, felt in good shape but all the stiffener was gone and the hat had zero structure. Tore it down to components, washed thoroughly, new sweat upsized to fit, new vintage ribbon, stiffening in both brim and crown AND restyled to a pork pie not the original classic fedora bash. Faded line is a remnant of the original creasing

 

[belfastboy]

Here is a progress report on the red Borsalino in the shop for a restoration. Even though I babied the hat through the blocking, the felt was so thin at the pinch that it gave way and produced a hole.
I cut a piece of lighter milliner's grade felt in white and dyed it to match ,gluing it inside the crown to both fill the hole and reinforce the well worn area of the pinch. I glued in felt scrapings in the repair much like I would do with moth nibbles. It is a work in progress and will do at least another two rounds of back fill with the scrapings.

I also discovered an area by the brim break that was almost worn through. I glued on a piece matching grosgrain to reinforce the area. it will be hidden by the sweat band once sewn in place.
Later I will show pictures of the ribbon that I dyed with the repair felt. It is not perfect but has a ton more colour vibrancy. Not a perfect

restoration by a long ways but the owner will get a hat he can wear.......for a few more years at least. There is stupid, sloppy amount of glue residue left over from the factory glued liner.

 

[belfastboy]

Here is one I mailed out yesterday. It is my "Country Gentleman" model. Ukraine rabbit at 160grams. Latigo leather on the band with my 'wolf paw' logo instead of a concho.

 

[StoryPNW]

Here is one I mailed out yesterday. It is my "Country Gentleman" model. Ukraine rabbit at 160grams. Latigo leather on the band with my 'wolf paw' logo instead of a concho. View attachment 632990 View attachment 632991

Very nice Robert, one of my favorite styles.

 

[belfastboy]

Things tend to run in cycles and after not handling any restorations for a long while I have been inundated with 5 in last 2 weeks. Here is a well worn, well loved custom hat (Falcon Park) that the client wants revived. I cautioned him the hat was so sun damaged, worn at the pinch, the felt degraded along the brim break that the results would not be great. He fully understood but wanted to give the hat a revival and a few more years of wear. I shall do what I can.

 

[belfastboy]

This fine looking fedora is headed out the door to Texas. 100% beaver, dress weight from FEPSA. Mid grey, tone on tone 6 ligne brim binding with a light tan crown ribbon. I like the colour combo, understated and classy.

 

[belfastboy]

I shipped out these two Royal Deluxe Stetsons today. Not really a restoration as they are both in fine shape. But they were Ebay purchases the buyer had sent directly to me for a refresh. Just a good steam, brush and a flanging to straighten the brim and tighten up the cupping. All in all two great vintage lids. The only flaw was the thin ribbon on the grey hat had been snipped at one point. Buyer decided to leave as is and accept a wee bit of patina. For some weird reason I cannot upload the pic of the grey hat.

 

[Mark_O]

Here is one I mailed out yesterday. It is my "Country Gentleman" model. Ukraine rabbit at 160grams. Latigo leather on the band with my 'wolf paw' logo instead of a concho. View attachment 632990 View attachment 632991

Happy to say that this is My hat.

 

[belfastboy]

Here is the third hat of the week from the same client. He had his Ebay purchases sent directly to me for an assessment and cleanup. This hat required very little, just a good brushing, some steam and a bit of touch up on the creasing. Client now has three fine Stetsons to add to his collection. Not a bad week's worth of hat hunting.

 

[belfastboy]

I do love a challenge. Here is a 40+ year old Borsalino my client purchased in Rome all those years ago. It has been an almost daily wearer and it shows. He asked me to do what I could to restore it.
Felt is in very good condition except for the wear point at the pinch...it is almost all the way through. I will reinforce it on the inside and then block it back to front. Ribbon is intact but well sun bleached. I am thinking of redyeing it ...trusting it survives the process. Liner is soiled, stained and the Borsa logo is gone. But the leather sweat is still supple. Hat needs a bit of stiffening all round as well. Will post the after pics in a few weeks. View attachment 631794 View attachment 631795 View attachment 631796

Here is a picture of the restored red Borsalino. I dyed the ribbon to bring back some colour, repaired the hole at the pinch, bathed the felt to clean it up. It turned out ok but the felt was so thin and fragile there was only so much could be done. I think this was a low end 'tourist' Borsalino as I have never seen a vintage one with such thin felt.

 

[belfastboy]

Restoration #2. I tried my best to talk the client out of spending the money on this restoration. But the hat has great sentimental value and he wanted to move ahead. Complete teardown, wash and a judicious bit of shellac here and there, new vintage grosgrain ribbon. I am surprised at how well it turned out. Here are before & after pics.