Mighty44
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,969
It's about time @Randall Renshaw got his own thread here, now that he is starting to take on projects from other loungers. We've all admired the work he's posted of his own hats, but I'm telling you this guy is one of the greats and a fantastic resource for anyone that needs a hat restored.
I reached out to Randall last month because he'd posted a hat he had successfully sized up while keeping the original sweatband intact. I had just bought a beat-up Stetsonian on Ebay for cheap, the only problem was that it was a size too small for me.
I asked if he thought he'd be able to size it up and keep the original sweat and told him I wouldn't mind losing some width from the 2 3/4 brim as I'm much more comfortable with a 2 1/2". He said "not a problem," gave me a price and told me to send it south.
It was a process--it turned out both the ribbon and the binding needed to be replaced. Randall and I both thought the hat would look great with a dark purple ribbon--only trouble was he didn't have any ribbon that color. In the end, he mixed up purple and black fabric dye and experimented on strips of white ribbon until he achieved the perfect color.
He also had to go through an epic undertaking to source the binding ribbon--a long story probably not worth the blow by blow but suffice to say he did an incredible job on this thing, including the fancy extra rows of stitching. He says he is also now set up with a bunch of vintage binding ribbon for future projects.
He sized the hat up, put it back together, gave it some stiffener and a rough diamond crease and sent it back to me. It's like a brand new 1940s Stetson Stetsonian--absolutely beautiful.
I could not be happier with how this thing turned out and am just hugely impressed with how Randall pulled this thing off. Apparently he has big plans for the future restoring hats and even making "new" hats using vintage bodies he's stockpiled. I can't wait to see the results.
David
I reached out to Randall last month because he'd posted a hat he had successfully sized up while keeping the original sweatband intact. I had just bought a beat-up Stetsonian on Ebay for cheap, the only problem was that it was a size too small for me.
I asked if he thought he'd be able to size it up and keep the original sweat and told him I wouldn't mind losing some width from the 2 3/4 brim as I'm much more comfortable with a 2 1/2". He said "not a problem," gave me a price and told me to send it south.
It was a process--it turned out both the ribbon and the binding needed to be replaced. Randall and I both thought the hat would look great with a dark purple ribbon--only trouble was he didn't have any ribbon that color. In the end, he mixed up purple and black fabric dye and experimented on strips of white ribbon until he achieved the perfect color.
He also had to go through an epic undertaking to source the binding ribbon--a long story probably not worth the blow by blow but suffice to say he did an incredible job on this thing, including the fancy extra rows of stitching. He says he is also now set up with a bunch of vintage binding ribbon for future projects.
He sized the hat up, put it back together, gave it some stiffener and a rough diamond crease and sent it back to me. It's like a brand new 1940s Stetson Stetsonian--absolutely beautiful.
I could not be happier with how this thing turned out and am just hugely impressed with how Randall pulled this thing off. Apparently he has big plans for the future restoring hats and even making "new" hats using vintage bodies he's stockpiled. I can't wait to see the results.
David