Putting in a sweatband without a reed

[fedoracentric]

So, I have a dark gray old Knox Vagabond with a ruined sweatband. It is the ultra light style felt and is very light. The original sweat had no reed and the leather was sewn right to the hat.

What hatter would you suggest out there for me to send this thing to that would re-do this sweat without a reed?

I won't go with Optimo in Chicago. They do great work, but they just cost too much for me.

I tried calling the folks at Northwest Hats several times. left messages and never got a return call. Also sent an email and never heard back.

So, anyone out there I can get some service from?

Thanks

 

[kingrat]

Try Tom Gomez panamas he's on the FL

 

[Rogera]

What about Art?

 

[fedoracentric]

I thought I read somewhere that Art preferred not to do refurbs.

 

[mayserwegener]

I am not aware of any place or person installing replacement non reed leather sweatbands.

 

[tonyb]

It can be done by hand, by a person with a very steady hand, very fine needles, and more nerve than I have. And a loupe would come in handy too.

The people with whom I've discussed this inform me that the machines made for sewing in unreeded sweats are scarce and difficult to master.

I believe I recall one of the proprietresses of Paul's Hat Works in SF reattaching an unreeded sweat. I don't know that that experience qualifies her to tackle your job, but you might ask.

 

[mayserwegener]

I think I have a few old hand stitched soft and stiff felts but I would have to look. They were common with Top Hats.

Update

Here are some examples of probable hand stitched sweats (in these 3 cases the sweats are on the thin side):

P. & C. Habig Wien Top Hat (Austrian)

PH. Möckel Hutfabrik Stiff Felt (German - This company made the original Homburg for Edward VII)

EMS "Gloria" Soft Felt (German)

Also probably hand stitched leather to reed assembly.

G.M Stiff Felt (German, around 1900)

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Though I would add that with his new store Art is doing refurbs again. He has the space to work with rebuilds again.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

I'm bumping this old thread in hope that things have changed since 2014. I have a nice Selco and a Mallory that I would prefer not to alter with deeded sweats. However, even allowing for serving copious hours of time, I doubt my ability to perform satisfactory work hand stitching so I would like to find someone providing the service, hopefully someone who owns and has mastered the old Singer blind stitch machine for the purpose (I remember seeing a post from Art saying he had two of the machines and had yet to make it all the way around a hat without the thread breaking.)
In another thread I remember a post from a few years back mentioning a hatter shop that did the work, even asking if they wanted one of their own sweats or one from the hatmaker! Unfortunately I didn't bookmark the page and can't remember any more details.