Wolfbrae Custom Hatters

[jeffgarf]

Every once in a while I get a commission for a true classic. A black fedora, 2 5/8" brim, centre dent with 5 1/4" height at the sides. Black grosgrain on the brim and crown. It is on its way to Florida View attachment 724182

I am proud to claim this one and I am excited for this Monday when I expect it to arrive (UPS willing!). Also, @belfastboy , we should mention it's nutria, right?

 

[belfastboy]

I am proud to claim this one and I am excited for this Monday when I expect it to arrive (UPS willing!). Also, @belfastboy , we should mention it's nutria, right?

Yes, it is a lighter weight nutria felt. It has a wonderfully soft hand. UPS says Friday delivery on their last update.

 

[jeffgarf]

I need to absolutely commend and thank @belfastboy for the spectacular job he did in bringing my vision to life. I have wanted a nutria hat for some time and actually purchased the hat body and Petersham ribbon with an eye toward eventually producing the hat myself. As those who have followed some of my other posts on the wearing of hats in the Orthodox Jewish community know, these hats, 99% of the time in black, play an important part in how many of us identify culturally or participate in ritual. Black Borsalino hats and other, now usually Hungarian-made models, present a fairly close one-size-fits-all model. I have many that fit that to a tee, but as an actual hat lover, I wanted to see a unique spin.

Between the unique materials I chose and the parameters I requested (crown size, crease), I was excited to see what Wolfbrae Hatters would produce. I am thrilled with the results and will proudly wear this for the upcoming high holiday season this September October. Thanks again.

 

[belfastboy]

This hat went out yesterday, winging its way to Texas. Winchester beaver western weight felt in a Steel. Vintage burgundy grosgrain on the crown and brim.
4 1/2" crown at the pinches, 3 1/2" brim as curled.

 

[belfastboy]

Here is a special build I just completed. It is beaver/chinchilla blend in the Husst felt in the colour Granite. Vintage marine blue ribbon on crown and brim, vintage Japanese silk liner, embroidered logo.
5 1/2" crown height at pinch. The brim is dimensional at 3 1/2" sides and just under 3" front and rear. I attempted many different brim curls but could not get it right so flanged it on a 3" wide flange and got the brim curl on the sides I was looking for. 2nd picture gives the most accurate colour representation of both felt and ribbon

 

[belfastboy]

Not a restoration as the client wanted to keep the patina on this Bandera Hat. Nice felt, not vintage I don';t think, just old. I gave it a good brush and steam, changed the bash a bit and downsized it one size. I also gave it a new leather band. The little critter is a hand carved horn button from Africa. I have a selection of different animals so the owner can choose their 'spirit' animal of the moment. This one is a cute little crocodile

 

[belfastboy]

Here is black Grizzly, open crown, 3" pencil curled brim. Ribbon is charcoal vintage grosgrain with frayed trailing ends on the bow.

 

[TimmyV]

She's a beauty Robert and once again I thank you for your attention to detail and willingness to ensure the customer is happy !! Keep on keeping on my friend. You done good.

 

[belfastboy]

She's a beauty Robert and once again I thank you for your attention to detail and willingness to ensure the customer is happy !! Keep on keeping on my friend. You done good.

You are welcome. Thank you for speaking your mind. It would bug the heck out of me if I discovered a client had kept a hat he was not happy with. My goal is always to produce a hat the client loves to wear.

 

[belfastboy]

Here is a fun project. The beaver felt came out of an ironing with white splotches that I could not get rid of. They rendered the felt unsaleable. So, I decided to attempt to cover it with silk. I have never done this before and I deemed it a worthy experiment. Here are the pictures so far. Next step is to p

put on a brim binding and sew in the leather sweat. I will put it up for sale on Ebay. I am leaning toward black for the binding so the contrast is on the top side against the felt. A black crown ribbon to match.

 

[belfastboy]

Here is a Christmas present to me. I picked up this Mallory Leghorn straw. I was planning on leaving it as in the first picture as I liked the lived in look of it. But the idiot seller stuffed a 5" crown into a 4" high box and scrunched the crown. So a re-block was needed. The hat has much softer, more rounded lines now. Over all it turned out great. The pugarree was faded and stained so replaced with a raspberry red ribbon. But I may make a new silk pug before summer rolls around. Altogether a great example of an Italian Leghorn straw.

 

[belfastboy]

I wanted to post these pictures as it was a fun experiment. The first attempt was to make an Open Road from a FEPSA beaver in Dovetail grey. But in the ironing some dye flashed out of the felt and left multiple whitish spots. The felt was not sellable. Sooo, I decided to make my first attempt at a "Tuxedo hat". I covered the white spots on the underbrim with some black patterned, vintage, Japanese silk. The hat was then trimmed with black vintage grosgrain for the trimming. The OR is being picked up this afternoon, the Tux hat will go onto Ebay.

 

[jeffgarf]

I wanted to post these pictures as it was a fun experiment. The first attempt was to make an Open Road from a FEPSA beaver in Dovetail grey. But in the ironing some dye flashed out of the felt and left multiple whitish spots. The felt was not sellable. Sooo, I decided to make my first attempt at a "Tuxedo hat". I covered the white spots on the underbrim with some black patterned, vintage, Japanese silk. The hat was then trimmed with black vintage grosgrain for the trimming. The OR is being picked up this afternoon, the Tux hat will go onto Ebay. View attachment 764218 View attachment 764219 View attachment 764220 View attachment 764221

That's gonna have to be one flashy tuxedo to wear with that hat! Well done.

 

[belfastboy]

That's gonna have to be one flashy tuxedo to wear with that hat! Well done.

Yes, I am sure there is another, more apt, name for this style.....I just don't happen to know what the hell it is.

 

[RickP]

interesting... is the fabric just secured at the brim binding and sweatband or do you tack the fabric down smooth to the felt?

 

[wsmontana]

Yes, I am sure there is another, more apt, name for this style.....I just don't happen to know what the hell it is.

Looks like a very cool fishing hat to me .

 

[belfastboy]

Looks like a very cool fishing hat to me .


View attachment 764548

Be the best dressed fisherman on the river!!

 

[belfastboy]

Here are pictures of my latest "save". This is a cheap straw hat, purchased in Greece many years ago for about $25. It belongs to a very good customer that has purchased many custom hats from. He brought this to me with a request to repair it as best I could as it is his favourite sun hat. I neglected to snap a pic of the original condition with a huge hole at the pinch. The first picture shows after my first pass at the repair when I booted the back side with some pieces of panama straw in order to give some backing.
I slowly, painstakingly glued down any fibres large enough to grasp with tweezers and filled in the gaps.
2.5 hours later, the result while not great, is certainly an improvement and he can wear the hat for a few more years. I did not charge him as it made no sense to spend that kind of money on a $25 hat. But he will be back for more custom hats.

 

[belfastboy]

Here is my latest challenge. This is a vintage tuxedo hat with the under brim covered in silk. The fabric is rotted but the felt is pristine. The interesting aspect is the fabric is sewn to the top brim (using a blind stitch as in a homburg or derby) then folded over. The last two pics are the test run on a donor hat with scrap material. I purchased the silk today and the final run will be tomorrow.

 

[belfastboy]

Ready for pickup.....120gr FEPSA rabbit in Black cherry. A true burgundy/wine colour as there is no black tones in the felt at all. But still a great colour. 5" crown at the pinch, 3" snap brim. Burgundy vintage grosgrain on brim and crown.
Vintage hand painted Japanese silk for the liner. ...embroidered logo on silk.