Can a felt brim edge be modified?

zetwal · Dec 31, 2008

Over the Holidays I was given a new felt hat with an unfinished 2.5 inch brim. Can a hatter fold it back around the edge and stitch it down in order to give me a 2.25 welted edge? I'd want it to look like original production of course.

Any suggestions who I should contact? I've posed this question by email to two hat makers and neither responded.

Can it be done? and if so, by whom? Thanks!

duggap · Dec 31, 2008

That might be a bit of a task. I believe Art Fawcett did one but I think it was on his light weight felt. A better option might be to have the brim cut to whatever size you prefer and then have a ribbon stitched onto the edge of the brim. You should be able to find plenty of pics of hats with the ribbon binding. Optimo in Chicago would probably be your best choice to have the hat worked on. Good luck.

gtdean48 · Dec 31, 2008

You could also try Peter Brothers in Ft. Worth = www.pbhats.com ... gtd

Feraud · Dec 31, 2008

Do you really want an underwelt or merely to shorten the brim?
If you want the latter you can more easily have it trimmed to 2.25".

Edit- I see you commented about the 2.25" welted brim but want to clarify the point..

zetwal · Dec 31, 2008

I'd prefer a finished edge. I assumed when I asked that matching the ribbon I already have would be tricky. Of course that ribbon could be changed too. However you slice it, I'm trying to shorten the brim and have it finished. My first choice on this hat would be welted but a ribbon edge could work as well. As always, thanks for your input ... E

carldelo · Dec 31, 2008

One suggestion

I just ran across this yesterday - Worth & Worth in NYC can do under/over welts, brim binding, ribbons, whatever.

http://www.hatshop.com/site/hat-repair.php

I've never had work done, but am going by there with my wife to pick out a hat for her birthday on Monday. I've been to the showroom before and the hats are quite nice, so the work should be ok too. Someone else on the lounge is using them for a hat renovation, but I can't remember who it is - they haven't posted the results yet. It would be worth a call, anyway.

Matt Deckard · Jan 1, 2009

underwelt, overwelt, bound edge. Other mods like a cavanagh edge aren't possible after a hat has been felted into a hat.

jpdesign · Jan 6, 2009

It can be done, I have done several, but you may end up closer to 2 inches. The edge doesn't fold evenly and has to be trimmed to be even.

Jimmy

Aureliano · Nov 30, 2009

Removing brim binding...

Hi,

I need some advise: I want to remove the brim binding from one of my hats. It is very thin. If I do, are the holes from the stitching going to show?
Are there any chances of the felt (hat is rather new) being a different shade under the binding?
many thanks!

Aureliano · Nov 30, 2009

fedoralover · Nov 30, 2009

Yes, and maybe. I did it to an older hat and the holes showed and the felt was brighter in color as it had not faded since it had been covered up. Since yours is newer that may not be an issue.

fedoralover

Aureliano · Nov 30, 2009

Thanks, were you able to make the holes less visible? how did you do it? sanding the brim's edge?

fedoralover · Nov 30, 2009

I ended up having it rebound. I couldn't get the holes to not show and the darker ring around the edge bugged me. So lesson learned, I leave them on now. Why do you want it off?

fedoralover

Aureliano · Nov 30, 2009

I want it off because I think it'd look better without it. But after your experience, which validates my suspicions, it is stayin in!

carldelo · Nov 30, 2009

Aureliano said:
I want it off because I think it'd look better without it. But after your experience, which validates my suspicions, it is stayin in!

Well, I suppose you could cut it off using the binding as the cutting guide. There wouldn't be any holes, and you would obviously lose the width of the binding and then have to dress the cut edge. That idea gives me the willies, however. Plus I prefer a bound edge.

Aureliano · Nov 30, 2009

I'm leaving the thing as it is.

ScottF · Nov 30, 2009

Aureliano said:
I'm leaving the thing as it is.

I recently had a lounger offer to trade me a hat that he had removed the brim-binding from - he said that you could NOT see the holes. Personally, I don't like brim bindings - if I had a hat that I really liked except for the binding, I would rather have a nice uniform row of tiny holes along the brim - I don't think it would look bad.

gtdean48 · Nov 30, 2009

You could always take a color matching thread & stitch it thru the holes after taking off the binding. It would look like some vintage Playboys but I would be wary of a different shade lurking under the binding as mentioned earlier. I've always added binding except for my first real western hat, a Resistol Stagecoach that I had the binding removed & shortened the brim to remove the stitching holes.

Aureliano · Nov 30, 2009

Thanks for the suggestions! I decided to leave the trimming untouched.

randooch · Apr 14, 2012

Widening A Brim

Using an X-Acto knife, I cut the stitches on a welted brim, opened it up, and ironed it out to add some width to a hat that always seemed just a bit too stingy for my taste.

It left a faint row of stitch holes, of course, but I rather like the look, sort of an echo of a brim edge treatment. The plan was to brush out what I could of the imprint, but I don't think I'll bother.

I gained about 5/16ths of an inch of brim.

Pictures to follow.

Can a felt brim edge be modified?

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