Wolfbrae Custom Hatters

belfastboy said:

Here is a picture of the hat I delivered on Sunday. It was made for the daughter of a good friend as a graduation gift (her MA Ed). Her first good hat after wasting her money on crap wool hats that didn't fit and didn't last. I forgot to snap a picture of the lining...made from vintage Japanese kimono fabric. Her first words to me...."It fits perfectly, I have never had a hat that fits me properly." Millinery Warehouse sueded rabbit felt in Granite. A great coloured felt. View attachment 335725

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deadlyhandsome said:

From my last order:

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belfastboy said:

It looks great on you, makes my work look good!
At one point I began to fear I would never finish this hat. When I received it it was dirty and required a naptha bath but something happened and it looked like the dye ran to one side of the brim. Could not remove or move the stain/streak so in my estimation the only option was to dye it a darker colour to hide the stain. It turned out a great shade of dark chestnut and I proceeded to the next steps. The hat was finished, I was pleased but as the felt was so very soft, I ended up torqueing the ribbon too tightly to get the tight fit of ribbon to crown and in the doing distorted the sweat and created a pucker in the sweat. So, I tore the hat down, removing sweat, liner, and ribbon/bow and very carefully reattached all the components. In the end I was pleased with the result but it took me a number of weeks longer to complete than intended. It became like an old friend welcoming me..... or foe taunting as it sat on my 'to do' rack.

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deadlyhandsome said:

From my last order:

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deadlyhandsome said:

From my last order:

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belfastboy said:

Shipping out 2 today. This one a Millinery Whse suede finished rabbit felt. 5 1/2" open, 2 1/2" bound brim in Saddle with a black 19 ligne ribbon. A treat as I got the chance to actually put the bash in rather than shipping it open crown. I really like the Millinery Whse rabbit felts....especially the suede finish. View attachment 340094 View attachment 340094 View attachment 340096

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belfastboy said:

The second is a Winchester beaver in Whisky with pecan binding and ribbon work. I would love to work more with beaver felts. They are more challenging but. like many things, the rewards are greater. Very similar dimensions to the first one today View attachment 340100 View attachment 340100 View attachment 340103

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humanshoes said:

Excellent work Robert! Bravo!

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belfastboy said:

The second is a Winchester beaver in Whisky with pecan binding and ribbon work. I would love to work more with beaver felts. They are more challenging but. like many things, the rewards are greater. Very similar dimensions to the first one today View attachment 340100 View attachment 340100 View attachment 340103

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belfastboy said:

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ChicagoWayVito said:

Is the hat on a Randall Alan block?

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belfastboy said:

Shipping out today my version of the Stetson Gun Club in a Millinery Whse western weight Pecan. At 180grams the brim has the western stiffness but the crown was still nice and pliable. It was a good felt to work with and if they are all like this I will be less hesitant to work with the western weight. We went with the heavier western weight as the client wanted an outdoorsy/hiking hat. 4 1/4" crown at the front, 3 1/4" brim. Bridle leather band in a dark chestnut. I added the feather as it was such a great colour match....no idea if the client wants a feather but it just seemed to fit. View attachment 340241 View attachment 340242

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deadlyhandsome said:

With the permission of @belfastboy I’m starting a dedicated Wolfbrae Custom Hatters thread.

I know the regulars here already know most of this, but as we always have new folks showing up, members and lurkers, I thought I’d start at the beginning:

The hero of our story @belfastboy has a love of hats. He has custom hats from many of the best hatters as well as a collection of custom hats. He’s enjoyed hats for many years so when he retried he decided to try out hat making (he makes hats for men and women). At this point he’s just starting out, but his work is solid and his hats are very nice. He can take on most any project from a complete custom build to a simple leather sweatband replacement. He has a decent, and growing, selection of blocks and flanges and vintage grosgrain ribbon. He has access to a wide range of felt hat bodies. The postage from Canada is a bit more than I’m used to with domestic hatters, but shipping from BC to California is only about a week, the his most reasonable prices more than offset the increased shipping. Hopefully @belfastboy will be able to post a price list at some point. I’ve done all my commissions via email and the responses are quick and progress updates are regular: just how I like it.

I hope everyone who gets a Wolfbrae has work done by Wolfbrae on their hats posts it here. I’m happy to support a great guy and I’m very pleased with all his work.

Here’s a hat to start off:

This was a rebulid of an existing hat that really counts as a new build. The hat was reblocked to my size, the crown height was increased and the brim width decreased (stole from the brim to increase crown height). The brim was flanged, a new sweatband was sewn in, a new vintage ribbon and bow sewn on, and the original liner was put back in at my request:


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bobm said:

Just wanted to say thank you for the (to me) introduction to Wolbrae Hats and starting this section.

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