jury rigging a faux fedora

[shadwell55]

Folks,

There is no way I can afford a real fedora right now--even the 100 dollar variety. I have a hiking hat (see link below) a Broner "lite felt" 100% wool hat in a style called "wilderness." This is one of those highly convenient crushable hats.

Unbashed, the crown looks to run about 5 inches in height and the brim is a uniform 2 1/4 inches. The color looks good but I need to get some black ribbon to stitch to the crown. The pic I have posted is actually of crudely applied black athletic tape to see what a black ribbon would do to the hat. Looks pretty good for a 25 dollar hat with athletic tape.

My question: where can I get ribbon (1 1/2 inches wide) to put on this hat? We have no hat shops, but would a fabric shop do? If so, what do I ask for?

[shadwell55]

forgot to post the link. here goes
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y261/s ... G_5315.jpg

[nicktheguy]

I was able to find the appropriate ribbon at a fabric store - it's called grosgrain ribbon. I hope you will be able to find what you need.
Cheers
Nick

[Michaelson]

Actually, that Broner has a bit of history with the Indygear crowd. When companies began to run out of the Stetson Temple of Doom stock, they fell back on this particular hat company to fill the bill. There was a fur felt version of your Broner that was a dead ringer to the TofD Stetson (I know, I own an example of both hats), and in my opinion was a much better hat in terms of quality and construction. I had mine overhauled twice over the course of the years before the internet became the mecca for us gearheads for better hats and the like.

So, that said, you actually have one that, though not what we have now, was what we had and wore THEN, and it served us well. That will work fine until you get to where you want to move on to something else.

High regards! Michaelson

[shadwell55]

I got this hat in 1993 on a whim at an Army Navy Store. I wanted something dirable for campaing and the occasionol snow we get in the deep south. Te crushable fature was great. I put it in a suit case for a long days journey by plane and train from Alabama to Yale University, unpacket it, reshaped it and was good to go. I don't wear it often (I am not sure I look thet great in the fedora style hat--more a baseball cap guy) but my kids call it the Indy hat, even before I started gearing up.

[Michaelson]

Then it makes absolute perfect sense, regarding your source. U.S. Cavalry up in Kentucky was my source of the Broner hat, and they were the one's substituting it for the then out of stock Stetson's. Regards! Michaelson

[Ark Hunter]

Yeah, that's what I was going to say toddscostumes.com has ribbon for $2.