How to Repair a Felt Hat (Vintage or Otherwise)

While my muse is being obstinate, I thought I might share an interesting article or two that I have previously published elsewhere. I believe they will be quite relevant here, as well. Please enjoy them while I throttle my muse for a bit!

                                            Photo credit : Laurie Tysinger, 2013.

Felt hats can fall victim to the ravages of time, and to moths. It is also easy to damage the felt base of the hat while removing or replacing old ornamentation. You needn't throw out that favorite vintage hat; however, as it can be repaired rather easily.

Moths were a problem I occasionally came across before I located boxes to fit all of my vintage hats. Unfortunately, they are still a bit cramped. One box contains four hats, in some cases. Cramped quarters aside, they are now safe from the potential savagery of random moths.

Should you come across a hole in your favorite felt hat, it is not that hard to fix. All you need is a piece of felt in the corresponding color, and a bit of fabric or craft glue. Both can be found at the nearest Hobby Lobby: http://www.hobbylobby.com/StoreLocator/, or online at : http://shop.hobbylobby.com/.

Once you have these in hand, simply follow these easy steps:

1. Cut a piece of the felt roughly the same size and shape of the hole in the hat. If it isn't exact, that is okay, we are going to reshape them both a bit anyway.

2. The next part is the trickiest, but it is not as hard as it sounds. Take the piece of felt you have just cut and very gently pull the fabric a little around the edge. This well make the fabric thinner at the edges, and it will appear larger than it was before. Be careful not to rip it. You may want to experiment a bit first with felt scrapes. You can even wet the felt a little, so that it is easier to manipulate. Felt is great for changing its shape when wet, that is one reason it is so widely used in hat making.

3. When you feel you are comfortable enough with the shaping of your felt, next turn to the hat itself, and do the same thing around the edges of the hole. Afterward, the felt piece should fit the hole with some overlapping of both.

4. Next place the felt on the inside of the hat, and line it up with the hole so that they do overlap.

5. When you are comfortable with this placement, remove the felt piece long enough to apply fabric or craft glue around its now thinned edge.

6. Place the felt back inside the hat overlapping once again with the hole. Press them together firmly.

7. Voila, your hat is repaired. If you feel it will not hold while drying, and it will not damage the overall shape of the hat, you can place an object such as a golf ball, or even an appropriately sized glass, or other heavy object inside the hat over the hole until it dries. I have seldom found this necessary; however, as the felt fuses together rather well once it has been thinned and reshaped.

Now your hat should be good as new! If for any reason you are not fully pleased with your first effort, or find a particular hat has not turned out as you hoped, there is always the option of adding trims, bows, ribbons, feathers, etc., which usually look good almost anywhere on a felt hat.

Content written by Laurie Tysinger. © 2013 All rights reserved.

Originally published on ExpertsPages, June 6th, 2013.