Having made a replacement for my "cowpat"-looking, oversize, earlapping leather hat; I've set about addressing the problems with it.
The probs were.......over size by about 3 cms.....rim was always creased and buckled...crown sides bulged in, then out, rubbish hatbraid. But, h3ll, it was a pressie from way away.
The only way I could see for a successful remedy, was a complete dis-assembly and, with the exception of the crownpiece, thats what I did, even to removing the brim trim-band and the supporting wire ( in fact it was just a length of thick nylon , like strimmer line).
From the sideband join, I removed a tapering triangular fillet of 1.5 cms from each side and then sewed it back together.....that bit was easy.
The rim; well there was no choice but to make a cut at the rear and remove two fillet pieces as well......and sew it back together.
The wire had ,clearly, never seated correctly, inside the trim bandand to fix this, I trimmed it to length and tacked it to the brim edge with a continuous marl hitching.
Longest job, was re attatching the trim band, over the wire and onto the edge of the brim.; about 4 hours of work.
Sewed brim back on to the crown; another 2 hours........cut and made a replacement braid 1 hour and job done.
Ploddy thing must have taken all of 15 minutes to make on the factory machines.
All in all, about 9 hours of work for me, but at the end, I've got a much better finished and better shaped hat which fits perfectly and looks a whole lot better.
No more packing it out with edgestrips and cloth....so, it can be done!
Now, where's that Guardspray?
Chuffed,
Ceeg
The probs were.......over size by about 3 cms.....rim was always creased and buckled...crown sides bulged in, then out, rubbish hatbraid. But, h3ll, it was a pressie from way away.
The only way I could see for a successful remedy, was a complete dis-assembly and, with the exception of the crownpiece, thats what I did, even to removing the brim trim-band and the supporting wire ( in fact it was just a length of thick nylon , like strimmer line).
From the sideband join, I removed a tapering triangular fillet of 1.5 cms from each side and then sewed it back together.....that bit was easy.
The rim; well there was no choice but to make a cut at the rear and remove two fillet pieces as well......and sew it back together.
The wire had ,clearly, never seated correctly, inside the trim bandand to fix this, I trimmed it to length and tacked it to the brim edge with a continuous marl hitching.
Longest job, was re attatching the trim band, over the wire and onto the edge of the brim.; about 4 hours of work.
Sewed brim back on to the crown; another 2 hours........cut and made a replacement braid 1 hour and job done.
Ploddy thing must have taken all of 15 minutes to make on the factory machines.
All in all, about 9 hours of work for me, but at the end, I've got a much better finished and better shaped hat which fits perfectly and looks a whole lot better.
No more packing it out with edgestrips and cloth....so, it can be done!
Now, where's that Guardspray?
Chuffed,
Ceeg
