Need help with hat renovation

OK, so here's the hat. (Please excuse the bad cell phone pic; it's the only digital camera I have on hand at the moment.)



Here's my problem--I almost never wear cream, so this hat rarely gets any use. I used to wear it with a cream suit, but that was over 20 years ago, and I've worn it maybe twice since then. However, I really love the style, and think I would get a lot more wear out of this hat if I could change it to black. I have considered dyeing it, but I have no idea if the dye would take, or what kind to try. It's a shaped felt hat with a grosgrain ribbon band, two long feathers, and net veiling. If it can't be dyed, I've considered taking the trim off and covering the hat itself with black fabric, but I've no idea how to go about it. Any ideas?

You could try dying it if it is wool (most would be). But it would lose its shape and need to be reblocked and possibly starched. You could try covering it. Hand draping fabric over the top and piecing it together could get a fairly decent fit. Making an outer hat band could cover some of the seams, doing a grosgrain ribbon edge on the end of the brim would afford another way of covering fabric ends or seams.

You could try painting on the dye with a brush, instead of immersing it, and stuff it with newspaper to keep the shape.

Do you even know what kind of felt it is? If you have comparison hats you should be able to tell whether it is fur felt (smoothest), wool felt or synthetic felt (roughest).

I presume that you can dye fur felt (like dying hair) and wool felt but synthetic felt is less likely.

All three types of felt are used in making hats.

Soaking it in the dye probably won't do it any good but you might be able to paint it on... However you might want to keep it from ever getting wet if you do that.

Z.

Perhaps you could try Simply Spray, a spray on fabric paint.http://www.simplyspray.com/

I have not tried it myself, but the website seems informative and says that it is readily available at Michael's and JoAnn craft stores.

Good luck!

I don't know much about dyeing fabrics but....

What about the types of dye used to color shoes for weddings? Those are dyed using a brush on color. Keeping a uniform color seems tricky if that would even work.

I guess I'm not much help.

Thanks for all the input! A spray dye or fabric paint does seem like it might be safest, and if that ends up not working out, I suppose I could always try covering it. I think as long as I can preserve the basic shape of the hat, I can always replace the trim if it gets messed up.

I'd love to help with your hat renovation.
I can put up scaffolding and have a little card that says I'm qualified to climb ladders.
If these skills are of any use, they are at your disposal.

Dr. Q.

I'll definitely keep your offer in mind, Dr Q.

Continued on Brass Goggles at http://steam.punqs.org/bg-forum/index.php?topic=11728.0