Wolfbrae Custom Hatters

[belfastboy]

That is really great repair work, I have seen felts in the same condition after removing the sweatband and I never thought about sewing the felt back together, I just wrote it off as a loss. If I run into a problem like this I will have to try my hand at repairing the felt. I have a old brown felt that I use to try different sewing methods on, including using a sewing machine, the felt lacks any shellac and, no I still can't sew a straight line, which is a good thing. Sewing with a machine is one thing, proper thread tension is another, using the proper thread and spacing the stitches properly is another issue. I think that I will stitch with hand sewing.

There is too much of the repair ribbon showing outboard the sweat. I wanted to block a higher crown but ran out of block. Decided to live with it as the hat was for me as a 'shop hat'.

Next time I won't be so lazy and I will put an extension on the block to put the repair further into the crown and out of sight entirely.

 

[Darrell2688]

I spent two years learning hat craft by working on beater westerns....low cost, low risk. If I have enough brim width to steal taking a hat up 3 sizes is doable but I will often do it in stages to avoid trying to stretch it all at one time. It works well.
I get great satisfaction in repairing old hats and restoring them to wearable condition. Moth nibble repair is not hard but it is painstakingly slow work. I do it while watching baseball on TV.

What glue would you use for repairing moth holes or would shellac work better? Blocking an old hat inside out would help a little, plus the pouncing would provide some felt fibers for moth holes.

 

[belfastboy]

What glue would you use for repairing moth holes or would shellac work better? Blocking an old hat inside out would help a little, plus the pouncing would provide some felt fibers for moth holes.

I use a thin crafting spray glue bought at Michaels sprayed on a piece of cardboard first. The most important thing is to use as little as possible applied with the pointy end of a toothpick. Use too much and it produces a hard dark spot on the felt. Shellac would be about the worse thing you could use as it is designed to harden. Jump in and start doing it....the only way to learn is to experiment, fail, try again and again til you get it right.