Dyeing hats?

[skillbilly]

I picked up a very light colored (taupe) Borsalino that had a stain that looks like it was from the sweat band. Well after a nice soak in naptha the stain remains. Is is it possible or even advisable to have the hat dyed a darker color?

[Mike K.]

I've wondered the same thing Skillbilly. I would think Matt or Art would know a few things about changing the color of a hat. My concern would be that many dyes require a mordant for the color to set. Often that mordant is a salt and I'm not sure it would be good for hat felts.

[tonyb]

Maybe you should try something other than naptha to remove the stain. Vinegar, maybe? I dunno, just a guess.

[Fedora]

You can in fact dye a hat, even with a dispersion dye like Rit. The hard part if getting the felt to absorb the dye deep. You can boil the hat in the dye for hours and the felt will look like a sandwich, if you were to cut off a piece of the brim. 3 layers. The outer layers being the new color, and the inside being the old color. Back in the old days when hats were dyed by hand, in small shops, they had to use a technique that involved taking the hat out, and allowing it to cool, and then going back in the dye for another saturation. This was repeated many times, and was very time consuming. The cooling off stages helps the dye to absorb deep into the felt. If you try it, be sure to put a bit of Woolite into the dye mixture, as this allows the felt to absorb the dye better. I am currently wearing a vintage Stetson Nutria hat, that I dyed 4 years ago, using Rit dye,and the color is still great, with no wash out. I would not recommend dying a new hat though, as the live felt will shrink up really bad. You can boil vintage felt with very little shrinkage, although I did have to reblock the Stetson I just mentioned just to get it back into a nice shape. I cannot say how a vintage rabbit hat would react in the shrinkage department, as I never tried it, but if the felt is dead, the same would probably apply. Fedora

[Mike K.]

Hey, that's great to know. I might just have to try a little hat re-dying someday soon!

[zetwal]

Has anyone out there experimented with dyeing felt hats since this was brought up in 2006? Anyting to add here?

[tonyb]

Has anyone out there experimented with dyeing felt hats since this was brought up in 2006? Anyting to add here?

Yes.

Good results are much likelier if you 1.) use a dye specifically formulated for protein fibers, 2.) use enough of that dye and a large enough vessel, 3.) gradually increase and then gradually decrease the temperature of the dye bath (so as to avoid "shocking" the felt and causing it to shrink even more than it likely will), and 4.) use a hat body in a color that will yield a decent looking result with the dye color, such as a gray body and a dark blue dye.

Some people say Rit brand dye works well. I wouldn't dispute that, but such has not been my experience. It's a general purpose dye, allegedly suitable for dyeing both protein and cellulose fibers. I've never had it work satisfactorily for either. Maybe I've always done something wrong, despite my following the instructions on the label.

Dyeing a hat involves taking it down to the bare body, so turning it back into a hat again involves blocking and flanging and probably a new sweatband and ribbon. In other words, it takes the right equipment and materials and quite a few steps, none of which is as easy as it appears. This is not to discourage a person from giving it a go, but just to give a sense of what he is up against.

[mayserwegener]

At the 1.47 minute mark of this Lembert (Augsburg, Germany) video it shows the hat dyeing (green) process. It is in German but you can see process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCjvRNoUTJA

[zetwal]

Thanks gentlemen ... ;)

[markapsolon]

I am a little timid about doing anything to my hats that involves cleaning not to mention staining. I just recently had a problem with the brim on one of my dobbs hats because of the rain. I thought about trying to fix the problem myself and got some great ideas from the forum members but I decided to take it to a hatter. You might want to consider doing that if you really like the hat and think it is worth the money.

[tonyb]

I am a little timid about doing anything to my hats that involves cleaning not to mention staining. I just recently had a problem with the brim on one of my dobbs hats because of the rain. I thought about trying to fix the problem myself and got some great ideas from the forum members but I decided to take it to a hatter. You might want to consider doing that if you really like the hat and think it is worth the money.


You're wise to shy away from such a project, markapsolon, especially considering you have a hatter in your town who'll tend to that stuff for you.

Me, I've ruined a few hats. That's kinda how a person learns this stuff these days -- you ask people with more experience and you make a lot of mistakes.

Redyeing a hat body is a fairly drastic measure, one that should probably be reserved for those hats that just wouldn't be acceptable otherwise, due to impossible-to-get-out staining or uneven fading or an ugly color. It's really more work than making an all-new hat, and for that reason it's not worth the trouble, unless you take some pleasure in the process or are looking for a body color you just can't get any other way.

[jwalls]

Dying a hat is probably best left to a professional. I have done 3 and was only satisfied with one. The cost would be enough to buy a good custom.

[deano7879]

Hi guys i was wondering if you could help me

i have a fedora here
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b129/deano7879/DCE%20PART%202%20FEDORA%202012/DSCF1927.jpg?t=1339612581

i love the colour and i think its been dyed. i was wondering your opinion and if it has been dyed what colour i can use to achieve this look. i think the hat was a light brown originally and now its a rusty look

i have some hats i want to do up to match that look

thanks in advance

[LoveMyHats2]

I think, maybe the color is just the end result of age, the hat seems like it has been around for a long time. But maybe there would be a process to make a hat appear that way, I think someone that makes hats may be able to tell you that information.

[deano7879]

hi it hasnt been around for years. this was a hat made to replicate the part 2 hat from a nightmare on elm street

i know the maker of this hat would of used certain dyes or chemicals to get this aged look! has you can see its very authentic

[randooch]

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b129/deano7879/DCE%20PART%202%20FEDORA%202012/DSCF1927.jpg?t=1339612581



Looks like a hollow-point exit wound. Not sure of the dye.

[The Wiser Hatter]

Mike Moore does this kind of work to Cowboy hats. He has a new body called beaver brown that is similar to this brown.

Buckaroo Hatters (http://www.buckaroohatters.com/)