Dying a faded ribbon?

[rogerstg]

One of the 3 for $35 Ebay hats I received is a Dobbs stingy. It's a dark cordova with a dark brown 2" ribbon. The hat is in pretty good shape except for a moth nibble in one place and the ribbon and bow are faded. After reading Brad's posts on dating Dobbs hats, I'd guess it dates from the late 40s to early 50s, or early 60s.

I thought that I might be able to dye the ribbon and bow back to a uniform dark brown, but I need to know what the material is in order to choose the proper dye. Or maybe I can reverse the ribbon and bow??

Does anyone have experience doing this? Any thoughts?





Thanks,
Roger

 

[moehawk]

For what it's worthh.....I have been experimenting with dyeing lately and have had good results dyeing cotton/rayon blend ribbon using proscion dye (from Dharma Trading Co.) set with soda ash. I have not tried dyeing old ribbon, just changing color of new stuff. I tried iDye on ribbon, it didn't work well. I have no experience with dyeing poly ribbon.
There may be factors in play with your old ribbon that could cause it to not take the dye evenly such as sun damage to the fabric, etc. The dyeing process could also cause the ribbon to shrink.
Hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[hatsRme]

GREAT little lid, Roger!

If it's that bad, I would simply get a new length of ribbon; vintage or not.

My guess on the age of that nice lid is 1965-ish. The added "ish" provides wiggle room for error, but somewhere in that era.

 

[ingineer]

source?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/112811072/new-colors-2-solid-grosgrain-ribbon-5?ref=market
tut:
http://www.dalexs.whitvani.net/hat/hatpage.html

 

[rogerstg]

Moehawk - thanks for the input.

If it's that bad, I would simply get a new length of ribbon; vintage or not.

My guess on the age of that nice lid is 1965-ish. The added "ish" provides wiggle room for error, but somewhere in that era.

Thanks, and I think you're right. After re-reading some of the dating posts, I see that the inner label does not have block depth, making it a 60's label. I'll also just change the ribbon. I was under the impression that a substitute would be difficult to source. Thanks to Ingineer providing links, I now know that is not a problem.

Simplest would be to flip the ribbon if it's not faded on the other side. Rethinking it, simplest is to do nothing. In some ways I dig the faded beauty of the original. At least I have good options.

Roger

 

[Zombie_61]

...Rethinking it, simplest is to do nothing. In some ways I dig the faded beauty of the original. At least I have good options.

That would be my choice, but that's because I appreciate the "patina" that a well-used hat has acquired over the years. Of course, that depends on whether you're planning to wear the hat "casually" or "formally"; if the latter, a replacement ribbon might be advisable. Then again, by the standards of many members here on The Lounge I dress like a slob (I'm a "jeans and tee shirts" kind of guy), so take my opinion for what it's worth.

 

[rogerstg]

Of course, that depends on whether you're planning to wear the hat "casually" or "formally"; if the latter, a replacement ribbon might be advisable.

Thanks to you folks being enablers of a sort, I have plenty of other "nice" hats to wear for more formal occasions.

Roger

 

[Zombie_61]

Thanks to you folks being enablers of a sort, I have plenty of other "nice" hats to wear for more formal occasions.

Roger

Whaddaya' mean "of a sort"??? We define the word "enablers"! lol

 

[moehawk]

I agree with the enabling thing...that's the best art of the Lounge!
If you do decide to change the ribbon, do try to get cotton/rayon blend rather than poly. It is much easier to make conform to the hat. I didn't see what the stuff on the link was made of, you might ask the seller before ordering.

 

[rogerstg]

I agree with the enabling thing...that's the best art of the Lounge!
If you do decide to change the ribbon, do try to get cotton/rayon blend rather than poly. It is much easier to make conform to the hat. I didn't see what the stuff on the link was made of, you might ask the seller before ordering.

Thanks for the heads up.

Roger