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Hat ribbon

Highlander

A-List Customer
Messages
473
Location
Missouri
I am looking for some 1" wide gross grain hat ribbon for one of my Silver Belly 10x Stetsons. Hopefully with the bow already in it so all I have to do is stitch it on....??? Any ideas where to find it?

Thanks
 
Messages
10,560
Location
My mother's basement
I've found bow crafting perhaps the most pleasant and satisfying part of the hat-making process. Use an existing bow as a "go by," or get creative. There are many, many bow styles and a bunch of ways of crafting them, so, as aliados says, you can get what you want by doing it yourself.

A few tips ...

Don't use more ribbon than you need. Fold over the ends of the bow, of course, but for most bows there's no need to double the ribbon thickness over the bow's entire length (although I have seen bows that were indeed doubled the entire way).

Use ribbon that will shrink a bit. I know of one person who has had success with 100 percent polyester ribbon, but the stuff gave me fits so now I use nothing but cotton/rayon blend. (I've heard that silk and silk blends also work well, but I can offer no firsthand confirmation of that.) The good stuff isn't as easy to find as the synthetics (the local fabric store, for instance, has nothing but polyester ribbon), but there are numerous online sources, and it can be had at fairly reasonable prices.

Doing a neat job of it takes considerably more time and effort than going the slap-dash route (this is what I assume aliados means by "frustrating"), but it makes a big difference in the finished look. This means putting those stitches UNDER the outer fold of bow ribbon rather than than stitching through it; carefully matching the thread color to the ribbon color; and placing the stitches securing the band ribbon (as distinguished from the bow section) right on the bottom edge and making them as small and inconspicuous as you can. If you do it right, even you might have to give it a good long look to know where those stitches are.
 

Vintage Betty

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,300
Location
California, USA
Highlander said:
I am looking for some 1" wide gross grain hat ribbon for one of my Silver Belly 10x Stetsons. Hopefully with the bow already in it so all I have to do is stitch it on....??? Any ideas where to find it?

Thanks

Yes, the Lounge has a few threads on this already and posted resources. Did you use the search engine?
 

Ranger01

New in Town
Messages
33
Location
Minnesota
You lookin to do somethin like this?
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/Austin_Gravedigger/?action=view&current=cowboy_Hat_8w400.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/Austin_Gravedigger/cowboy_Hat_8w400.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 

GWD

One Too Many
Messages
1,642
Location
Evergreen, Co
Ranger01 said:
You lookin to do somethin like this?
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/Austin_Gravedigger/?action=view&current=cowboy_Hat_8w400.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/Austin_Gravedigger/cowboy_Hat_8w400.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

You're brother sure gets around!
 
Messages
10,560
Location
My mother's basement
kabuto said:
Just wear the hat in humid weather and the stitches will be easy to find: they'll be at the center of the radiating sweat stain on the ribbon.

Well, I suppose that could happen, if a person got real good and sweaty in that hat. Repeatedly. But this is akin to observing that a hat fresh from a thorough refurbishing -- a cleaning and blocking and perhaps a new sweatband and ribbon -- ought to look real sharp, until you wear it through a few blizzards and let it get sat upon several times.

It still doesn't mean that it isn't generally considered better to conceal those stitches, does it?
 

Highlander

A-List Customer
Messages
473
Location
Missouri
Howdy GWD...Yep...I am looking to do something like's on your hat. I have a 30X Stetson that I'd like a different hat band on, some of mine have the 1 1/2" band, and look nice, but thinking more 3/4 or so for this hat.

Thanks, great hat. But I need it to match the silver belly hat.
 

Highlander

A-List Customer
Messages
473
Location
Missouri
Howdy all, here's one of my older work hats with a wide gross grain band on it. I am looking for one about 2/3 that wide for my 10X. And note this one and how the sweat stains have formed. Great look in my book :)
DowntownHannibalandHat013-vi.jpg
 

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