The felt is of course pure beaver fur, and as most know, when light colors are run, the furs go through a more extensive sorting, as you can't have darker furs mixed with lighter furs when you make lighter colored felt. And most times, you pay more for the lighter colors due to the extra work that has to be done at the factory in sorting the fur. Generally speaking, the furs in light colored hats are the finest on the animal, which means most of it comes from the belly of the beaver.
I also used an 1 5/8 width ribbon, to give Michaelson a little variety in his hat collection. Yes, old friend this is your long awaited hat! This hat literally took me 6 months to make, as I would work on it, off and on, trying to make the best hat ever to come from my shop.
The bow work features an almost no visible stitch bow, like Optimo makes. I figure I have a couple hours in just the bow work. I did use two visible stitches at the very back of each bow, ONLY because a hidden stitch at this location compromises the strength of the bow, and it staying secure on the hat.
Pics? Yeah, I have 4 to post. Hope this suits you old friend. If the ribbon is not to your tastes, we can change it out later on, but personally, I love it myself. One day, I will find the time to make myself one, exactly like this. I have always liked this particular color, in so far as light colored hats go. And it will go great with khakis!!
Also, instead of going with the 5 3/4 crown of the gray travel hat, I dropped it down to 5 1/2 inches and instead of the brim being 2 7/8 by 2 5/8, I used 2 3/4 by 2 1/2, which suites Michaelson much better, as we know from past experience. Wear it in good health my friend! Be sure to turn out the sweat and see that you have a special sweat in this too, just keep that to yourself!!
Fedora
This hat is a gorgeous. Beautifull ribbon work. ..Sweet hat knowlege too.
