Wolfbrae Custom Hatters

[belfastboy]

At least tell me that you charged her a steeply discounted $1,500 that you’re going to put into more hat tools.

Her sister had already purchased a hat from me so I couldn't boost the price.....but lordy, lordy I wanted to!!!

 

[Rmccamey]

Mea culpa, mea culpa! A client came into the shop today to chose a hat to wear to the Stampede Music Fest in Palm Springs next month. Her husband owns a Nick Fouquette creation and wanted a 'festival hat' to wear to equal his....except his cost $2500 and mine.....much much less! FEPSA rabbit felt in Commando green.

Here is our joint creation......my version of a Nick Fouquette.

I did refuse to distress it in any way but we are going to tart it up with some boho trimmings. The ribbon is from a vintage Balenciaga Italian silk tie deconstructed and reformed, orange & brown leather trimmings and a nickel skull concho.

I think it will outshine her husband's Fouquette hat but then I have a bias! View attachment 501759

Introducing the Wolfbrae "Wild Thang".

 

[Gregory Wilde]

Mea culpa, mea culpa! A client came into the shop today to chose a hat to wear to the Stampede Music Fest in Palm Springs next month. Her husband owns a Nick Fouquette creation and wanted a 'festival hat' to wear to equal his....except his cost $2500 and mine.....much much less! FEPSA rabbit felt in Commando green.

Here is our joint creation......my version of a Nick Fouquette.

I did refuse to distress it in any way but we are going to tart it up with some boho trimmings. The ribbon is from a vintage Balenciaga Italian silk tie deconstructed and reformed, orange & brown leather trimmings and a nickel skull concho.

I think it will outshine her husband's Fouquette hat but then I

 

[Gregory Wilde]

Well l for one am not partial to green hats for myself however l have seen them on others and they look good. I know Kevin at J.J.Hat in NYC loves his green Borsalino.

This new hat that you made Robert is perfect for a festival...looks old in the picture..

Even though you didn't distress it....l'm betting the client will put some dirt on it and crease it up

To each his own ...l like the bash.

A real casual undisciplined looking hat..imo. Mission accomplished.. and in quality rabbit...it will last him for years!

Cheers!

 

[Darrell2688]

Well since you refuse to give the hat a flame job, you could always add a feather to the hat, there was an add on Etsy yesterday for Rooster tail feathers.

 

[belfastboy]

Well since you refuse to give the hat a flame job, you could always add a feather to the hat, there was an add on Etsy yesterday for Rooster tail feathers.

No, the client was very clear....she was not a 'feather' or a 'fancy bow' kinda girl.

 

[belfastboy]

Well since you refuse to give the hat a flame job, you could always add a feather to the hat, there was an add on Etsy yesterday for Rooster tail feathers.

A fun part of the session was disabusing the client of the notion that as a petite woman she could not wear high crowns or wide brims. I asked my wife, 5'4"/120lbs to model a few of her hats.......not a stingy brim to be found as she prefers wide brimmed westerns and she rocks them. So this hat will be blocked/bashed to 4 1/2" front, 5" sides and a 3 1/2" brim on a 5'2" lady.

 

[belfastboy]

I have a question: Last week I picked up some very nice linen fabric to have a summer shirt made. It got me thinking that it would make for a great warmer weather liner for my hats. It is called "Laundered Linen" as it has been washed and has a soft hand and it drapes really well. Could the Lounge members chime in with their opinions on whether this would be an option they might use? Rather than a colour I would stick to a natural coloured linen to start and then perhaps if it proves popular branch out into a few neutral colours. Thank you.

 

[Darrell2688]

The Linen would be a lighter fabric for a summer hat that is for sure. However would you have to add some type of interfacing to get the fabric to hold shape?

 

[belfastboy]

The Linen would be a lighter fabric for a summer hat that is for sure. However would you have to add some type of interfacing to get the fabric to hold shape?

No, adding the interfacing would negate any advantage of linen. This is a fairly heavy linen...expensive too $45 per yard. But it is very nice fabric.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I have a question: Last week I picked up some very nice linen fabric to have a summer shirt made. It got me thinking that it would make for a great warmer weather liner for my hats. It is called "Laundered Linen" as it has been washed and has a soft hand and it drapes really well. Could the Lounge members chime in with their opinions on whether this would be an option they might use? Rather than a colour I would stick to a natural coloured linen to start and then perhaps if it proves popular branch out into a few neutral colours. Thank you.

I’m a bigger fan of no liner on warm weather felt hats. Have you looked into some sort of tip stamp or something along those lines? I think the plain felt without a liner looks unfinished without a stamp or something similar. I like personally like the stamp better than a glued on fabric tip.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

my latest two Wolfbrae hats arrived yesterday. This is a FEPSA beaver felt hat in the color Tim at Pure Beaver calls lite coco. 6 ⅜” open crown. It is starting to rain and that’s what the dark spots on the felt are.

 

[Blare]

my latest two Wolfbrae hats arrived yesterday. This is a FEPSA beaver felt hat in the color Tim at Pure Beaver calls lite coco. I’m leaving it open crown for now, but the soft 6 ⅜” open crown will get creased at some point.

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That is a heck of a hat, Brent. Another great job by Robert.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

This hat has me scratching my head. The issues all came from the navy blue rabbit fur felt hat body. I supplied the felt which was a $10 Etsy find and it was a “second quality” felt. The problem was it was just too floppy and didn’t want to hold a shape. The brim was completely flat and after 24-hours on my flange after being ironed it was still flat. I very rarely add stiffeners to felt, but this one needed it on the crown and brim. It came out nice, but maybe there was a reason the felt was only $10. My issues with the hat were all due to the felt I provided and not the work Robert did. Lesson learned, but it still came out nice in the end.
5 ⅞” open crown and 3 ½” bound brim.

The spots on the felt are due to the light rain falling and a few fat drops from the tree overhead.

 

[belfastboy]

This hat has me scratching my head. The issues all came from the navy blue rabbit fur felt hat body. I supplied the felt which was a $10 Etsy find and it was a “second quality” felt. The problem was it was just too floppy and didn’t want to hold a shape. The brim was completely flat and after 24-hours on my flange after being ironed it was still flat. I very rarely add stiffeners to felt, but this one needed it on the crown and brim. It came out nice, but maybe there was a reason the felt was only $10. My issues with the hat were all due to the felt I provided and not the work Robert did. Lesson learned, but it still came out nice in the end.
5 ⅞” open crown and 3 ½” bound brim.



View attachment 505425 View attachment 505426 View attachment 505427 View attachment 505428 View attachment 505429 View attachment 505430

The spots on the felt are due to the light rain falling and a few fat drops from the tree overhead.

I put quite a bit of stiffener in the brim and a bit in the crown. The brim binding helped give it some structural stability but I probably should have given the brim more stiffener.

 

[belfastboy]

Here are 4 vintage hats refurbished for a client. Resistol with a great back bow, a Stetson with a mode edge that had been hidden behind a sky blue Petersham brim binding, a Wormser with an unreeded sweat band sewn in at 3 o'clock instead of 12 o'clock. And a Richman. All ready to be enjoyed for another 50+ years.

 

[Yamahana]

View attachment 505462
Here are 4 vintage hats refurbished for a client. Resistol with a great back bow, a Stetson with a mode edge that had been hidden behind a sky blue Petersham brim binding, a Wormser with an unreeded sweat band sewn in at 3 o'clock instead of 12 o'clock. And a Richman. All ready to be enjoyed for another 50+ years.

They're all looking good there Robert

 

[belfastboy]

They're all looking good there Robert

Thank you. I have been surprised to find a few vintage hat collectors right here in my back yard.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I put quite a bit of stiffener in the brim and a bit in the crown. The brim binding helped give it some structural stability but I probably should have given the brim more stiffener.

I appreciate your willingness to work with an inferior piece of felt. I’m impressed you were able to get such a nice hat from it.

 

[belfastboy]

I appreciate your willingness to work with an inferior piece of felt. I’m impressed you were able to get such a nice hat from it.

For me a large part of the journey is learning how to work with a wide range of felts. The only true way to know is to see how the various felt weights and varying amount of stiffeners in each felt react to the hat making process. The Lite Coco hat was not just western weight but had an inordinate amount of stiffener in the felt. Whereas the Navy blue was both lightweight (120grams?) and little stiffener.

I pounced the heck out of the Lite Coco crown (see the mottling on the inside of the crown....it is extensive) but I feared thinning it too much and endangering the felt's integrity. There is so much stiffener in it that even with that amount of pouncing it only softened up a bit.