Cleaning grosgrain?

[Matt Jones]

Any tips for cleaning a grosgrain ribbon?

 

[jamespowers]

Is it sweat stained or just dirty?


Regards to all,

J

 

[Matt Jones]

Is it sweat stained or just dirty?

A little bit of both.

 

[besdor]

I have taken out stains on the ribbons of hats using rubbing alcohol or even clean water and a cloth . Many stains on the ribbons are the result of sweat marks . Even a little steam can work .
If not , take the hat to a decent hat store and they will replace it for you . At most it can be 10-15.00 bucks.

 

[Snrbfshn]

The Scout cleaner works, as well...

I've gotten less tentative with the Scout dark hat cleaner, and use it for the entire hat. And rather than a light foam, I slather the stuff on both the felt and the ribbon, almost to the point of soaking the hat. I then rub and dab it off using a clean, damp white cloth. I repeat the process several times if it's a just-acquired hat. I use the cloth rather than a brush because I think the brush just redistributes the dirt evenly across the hat.

 

[jamespowers]

I've gotten less tentative with the Scout dark hat cleaner, and use it for the entire hat. And rather than a light foam, I slather the stuff on both the felt and the ribbon, almost to the point of soaking the hat. I then rub and dab it off using a clean, damp white cloth. I repeat the process several times if it's a just-acquired hat. I use the cloth rather than a brush because I think the brush just redistributes the dirt evenly across the hat.

I second that. It works well for me as well.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Matt Jones]

Well, I gave it a shot, starting out with just plain water. Unfortunately I didn't get the stain out and the area I worked on is now discolored/faded.

So looks like I'll have to junk the ribbon anyway. I just hope I can find a close enough match, as I really love the color combination on this lid.

I've seen pleated ones, but are there any online sources for plain old flat grosgrain ribbons?

 

[besdor]

Any decent hat store should have a selection of hat ribbons pleated or regular . I'm suprised that water damaged the hat when you tried to clean it .

 

[fedoralover]

Did you clean the entire ribbon? I've found that you can't "spot" clean on hats or ribbons very well as then the one spot will look different than the rest. So you have to clean the entire ribbon or hat all at once and then when it dries it will all look the same.

fedoralover

 

[SHARPETOYS]

If what Fedoralover says does not work and you don't have a local hat store you can send it to Optimo Hats and they will have the color you need.

Second wait another month and Master Hatter Art Fawcett will be back up in business and he can replace it for you . He has thousands of yards of Vintage ribbon in a rainbow of colors.

Optimo.

http://optimohats.com/felthats.htm

Art Fawcett.

http://www.vintagesilhouettes.com/m_hats_new_felts.htm

 

[besdor]

Arts site is down . It's a shame ,as I've heard a lot about him. I know that Optimo does a great job at refurbushing old hats . Grahm travels all over the world for vintage bands and can match up any hat.

 

[Matt Jones]

Did you clean the entire ribbon? I've found that you can't "spot" clean on hats or ribbons very well as then the one spot will look different than the rest. So you have to clean the entire ribbon or hat all at once and then when it dries it will all look the same.

You have a great point, and I would have done the whole thing. However, the area I worked on doesn't appear clean at all -- it looks dull, like the grosgrain has lost its sheen. Almost like I used sandpaper on the thing. It's very obvious under bright light.

Anyway, there is at least one old-time hat shop around here that should be able to provide a good enough match. If not I'll send it to Optimo.

 

[feltfan]

Search those old threads for old threads

I've seen pleated ones, but are there any online sources for plain old flat grosgrain ribbons?

Check this out:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=4197

 

[Juhani]

I have a problem that I didn’t think could even exist. I have a light brown Fepsa felt hat (Hufvud) with a very light, gray binding. It was an open crown, so, naturally, I steamed it.

Immediately, the binding got some rusty colored stains from the steam. Then I survived. Now, as the spring finally arrived, I took my hat out of storage, and after a few days I decided to steam it a little more to improve its shape. Again, it got stained from the steam.

Both Chat-GPT and Grok said the stain is likely caused by minerals (particularly iron compounds) in tap water that are carried along with the steam. “Even if the kettle was clean,” Grok says, “ordinary tap water always contains small amounts of dissolved minerals such as iron, calcium, and magnesium.”

I never knew this could ever happen. All I ever have seen is people having fun with molding felt with steam. Am I the only one? Grok found examples of people having troubles with their steam irons, that’s all.

Well, yesterday I was in such a hurry to clean the stains right away that I forgot to take a photo. The stained part looked disastrous.

How did I survive? In October, I tried a 50/50 mixture of vodka and distilled water. No help. So, I tried a mild mixture of distilled water and spot remover detergent. It helped, and then the 50/50 cocktail of vodka & distilled water helped to get rid of the waterline. The same applied yesterday, although there’s still a minor mark left (no one will notice it).

I have one photo from last October after multiple attempts to clean the binding without damaging it.

My request for advice is: How should I remove such rusty stains properly from finely made grosgrain binding of very sensitive quality?

Sorry for being so wordy. The hat is a gorgeous 50X beaver hat in Fawn.

 

[belfastboy]

I have a problem that I didn’t think could even exist. I have a light brown Fepsa felt hat (Hufvud) with a very light, gray binding. It was an open crown, so, naturally, I steamed it.

Immediately, the binding got some rusty colored stains from the steam. Then I survived. Now, as the spring finally arrived, I took my hat out of storage, and after a few days I decided to steam it a little more to improve its shape. Again, it got stained from the steam.

Both Chat-GPT and Grok said the stain is likely caused by minerals (particularly iron compounds) in tap water that are carried along with the steam. “Even if the kettle was clean,” Grok says, “ordinary tap water always contains small amounts of dissolved minerals such as iron, calcium, and magnesium.”

I never knew this could ever happen. All I ever have seen is people having fun with molding felt with steam. Am I the only one? Grok found examples of people having troubles with their steam irons, that’s all.

Well, yesterday I was in such a hurry to clean the stains right away that I forgot to take a photo. The stained part looked disastrous.

How did I survive? In October, I tried a 50/50 mixture of vodka and distilled water. No help. So, I tried a mild mixture of distilled water and spot remover detergent. It helped, and then the 50/50 cocktail of vodka & distilled water helped to get rid of the waterline. The same applied yesterday, although there’s still a minor mark left (no one will notice it).

I have one photo from last October after multiple attempts to clean the binding without damaging it.

My request for advice is: How should I remove such rusty stains properly from finely made grosgrain binding of very sensitive quality?

Sorry for being so wordy. The hat is a gorgeous 50X beaver hat in Fawn.

View attachment 782658

The only way is to remove the ribbon from the hat and gently soak in warm water and a gentle/mild lingerie soap. If you spritz it you dilute the stain but spread it over a wider area. You have to be cautious with steam around a hat. Felt loves steam....ribbon and leather not so much.