Shanghailander
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 202
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Over the years I have picked up a number of straw hats. At the time, I didn't know the difference between straw, or the quality of weaving out there.
My first was a vintage Stetson. After reading a bit about weaves here, I took a squint at the hat.
It looks like it has about 13 row per inch or 169 weaves per square inch. (What, by the way, is a "vuelta" or return in Spanish? Does it refer to a row?)
A few years back, while in Buenos Aires, I picked up another Panama in a hat store there - for $25. Again, I knew nothing about weaving quality, and perhaps there were much better hats available, if I had only known to ask about them. This hat has about 121 weaves per square inch, which makes it a hat to wear to the beach or in the yard while working.
Similar weave count is found in this hat, which I purchased in Prague when I left another hat behind in a hotel.
So after fiddling with these lower quality hats, I finally splurged last year and bought a hat from Strand Hatter's in Sydney, Australia. It is not a Panama technically, because it is made of a different fiber - Bail Buntal.
The weave count is much higher here. The hat is much lighter, as well, than the others.
But here is the problem - the front of the brim appears to have "warped." There is a thin, malleable wire running all around the brim edge, but the main problem actually appears to be in the fiber and weave in the flat part of the brim.
Another view, with area outlined.
How can I flatten this out again? I tried pressing it with some heavy, flat weights, but before long it resumed its warped shape.
Should this be steamed out with a damp cloth and iron? What else can I try?
My first was a vintage Stetson. After reading a bit about weaves here, I took a squint at the hat.
It looks like it has about 13 row per inch or 169 weaves per square inch. (What, by the way, is a "vuelta" or return in Spanish? Does it refer to a row?)
A few years back, while in Buenos Aires, I picked up another Panama in a hat store there - for $25. Again, I knew nothing about weaving quality, and perhaps there were much better hats available, if I had only known to ask about them. This hat has about 121 weaves per square inch, which makes it a hat to wear to the beach or in the yard while working.
Similar weave count is found in this hat, which I purchased in Prague when I left another hat behind in a hotel.
So after fiddling with these lower quality hats, I finally splurged last year and bought a hat from Strand Hatter's in Sydney, Australia. It is not a Panama technically, because it is made of a different fiber - Bail Buntal.
The weave count is much higher here. The hat is much lighter, as well, than the others.
But here is the problem - the front of the brim appears to have "warped." There is a thin, malleable wire running all around the brim edge, but the main problem actually appears to be in the fiber and weave in the flat part of the brim.
Another view, with area outlined.
How can I flatten this out again? I tried pressing it with some heavy, flat weights, but before long it resumed its warped shape.
Should this be steamed out with a damp cloth and iron? What else can I try?
