I am very fortunate to have a beautiful Herbert Johnson fedora styled by the amazing Adverturebilt Hat Co. I rarely wear this hat and primarily display it on a hat rack on a shelf. However, the front brim has been turning into an odd shape lately. Can anyone provide some advice on how best to reshape it so I don't have the odd shape in the front brim? Thanks!
Only thing I know would be to iron it, but I'd touch bases with a hat maker like Penman or Garrison before doing so to make sure.
I've done it myself with a hot dry iron on old fedoras with complete success, but that was MY experience with the task, and I may just be lucky in how I do it.
Never 'assume' or take advice from us armchair quarterbacks on things like this when you can call on the experts.
I've never ironed one, but when one of mine gets bent out of shape I usually spray both sides with a little water to make the felt damp (not soaked - damp) and then use a clean countertop or ironing board to hand press it back into shape.
Nope. Been doing it that way for years without any problems.
It's kind of what I did way back in the dark ages when I was trying to get the Raiders shape out of a hat before I knew that the hat had a turned dimensional brim.
I'm sticking my head just to give you an advice ----> DON'T IRON
HJ felt is very unstable. It may shrunk in a uneven brim width.
If you don't have the correct millinery tools, I think it will be a mission impossible.
You can try the cold water (not hot) spraying method.
Gently try to re-shape, let dry. And repeat a couple of times until you get a shape that satisfy you.
Also, avoid to steam it. The crown will become a cone.
Never iron a brim. Brims are flanged. When you flange a brim
You are shrinking it to match the shape of the flange. By ironing it flat you might make it stretch out and may not be even.
If you loose the shape of your brim. Hitting the top side of the brim with steam and letting it cool should activate the stiffener and help with this problem but if it doesn't a flange is needed. You will need a hatters tools like a Falange, flange stand, flange cord and iron or sandbag. Milliners have a different skill set so make sure you go to a hatter to have your hat flanged.
Michaelson wrote:Well, there's two recommendations to NOT iron from two of our hat makers, so forget what I said.
Like I said, it works for me, but then I guess it's just been dumb luck.
Do what Indiego and BendingOak recommend.
Regard! M
M, it wasn't my intention to discredit your input.
Maybe the hats you ironed where beaver, or dead-felt (vintage and very old hats). More stabilized felts.
But Magnum's hat is a modern HJ. Rabbit felt. Very unstable.
Thanks everyone for your great replies. I've been very slowly and cautiously playing with the "water spray" method and trying to shape it by hand. It seems to be going well so far but I'm intentionally taking a very slow approach for fear of doing something irreversible.
If I'm not able to fix this myself, I'm not aware of any hatters I would trust to fix this in my area (Washington, D.C.) Can anyone recommend a hat shop that might be willing to handle this professionally through the mail or in person? Thanks again!
Last edited by Magnum on Sun Apr 17, 2016 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Well, off the top of my head, herein the States you can trust either John Penman (BendingOak) or David Garrison (Local Land Surveyor)
of Garrison Hats to do the work for you, and they're fellow members of the community.
They KNOW what you're after and need in our style fedora.
Magnum wrote:Thanks everyone for your great replies. I'v been very slowly and cautiously playing with the "water spray" method and trying to shape it by hand. It seems to be going well so far but I'm intentionally taking a very slow approach for fear of doing something irreversible.
If I'm not able to fix this myself, I'm not aware of any hatters I would trust to fix this in my area (Washington, D.C.) Can anyone recommend a hat shop that might be willing to handle this professionally through the mail or in person? Thanks again!
If you pay for shipping both way I'll flange the hat for free.
It's not the first time I have helped a fellow member like this so don't even worry about it. It doesn't take long. Just a couple of minutes. I don't like charging because of it. Just make sure you have a full name, address and phone number on a note with the hat.
superb!