How Have You Personalized Your Lid?

[Neophyte]

I'd like to start a thread here about hat/lid personalization, specifically focusing on add-ons. Puggarees (whatever that is), bands, pins, new ribbons, feathers, reblocking, brim trims, whatever...

You started with a naked hat. What have you done with it?

Descriptions are good, pics are awesome.

 

[RBH]

Yep.. there are many such threads here already.

here is one with pins.


http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=16100

 

[Neophyte]

I know there's are threads for specific things, like ribbons, pins, and such.

What I'd like to have here, though, is a thread about each guy or gals' lid and what, if anything, they've done to make it their own. I was inspired by a pic of another Lounger's Akubra, in which they stuck two playing cards behind the ribbon. It was rather dashing, and it was an awesome personal touch.

If this topic's too vague or general, however, I would like a moderator to eliminate it.

 

[RBH]

You dont think that what we did when we put the pins on?

 

[Neophyte]

I guess you're right. Seems what I've essentially tried to create is an easier-to-locate merger thread lol.

Someone delete this page, it's probably not going to go anywhere.
Oh well.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Now just one cotton pickin' minute, there...

I guess you're right. Seems what I've essentially tried to create is an easier-to-locate merger thread lol.

Someone delete this page, it's probably not going to go anywhere.
Oh well.

It's a worthy topic but, yes covered perhaps elsewhere. Beyond pins & feathers, whats left? Some nut down in GA went grommet crazy on one thread ( Props ' flute, I loved that hat ) Maybe you should start NEO'. What have you done? There are some great leather bands and braided horsehair I've seen little of.

For instance, I didn't do this,

I purchased it like this & have tried the band on other hats, but it only seems to "fit" it's mate, this quirky little Canadian Stetson. (above)


I missed out on the ultimate tho, seen here-

Complete with feather, dream catcher, teeth of some sort on the band (Deer I think, any hunters out there confirm this?) and, the piece de' resistance,

a part of a 'coon that was never on Davy Crocketts' hat.

 

[Neophyte]

Okay, I'll start. With a 3" brim and a poor attempt at a fedora style bash (resulting in the front of the crown being too low, the front pinch too tight, enhancing the taper effect), my ol' Akubra Squatter was just beggin' for a brim trim.

Here she is, before I took to cutting:

Here's what I did to it:

I'm also looking to get some feathers for the Squatter.
I'm also planning on a Black Squatter from DavidMorgan, putting a feather in it and a grey, 6 pleat puggaree, though I don't see many puggarees around the Lounge, so I'm not sure about that one.

 

[Mr E Train]

Neo, you kind of do things backward compared to other young people. Young guys usually come to the Lounge with narrower brimmed hats adorned with feathers, then as they hang around here for a while, they get a taste for wider brims and they ditch the feathers. You're a contrarian, you are.

 

[Lefty]

You started with a naked hat. What have you done with it?

My hats have all arrived fully dressed.

Since that time, I've worn them and, I assume, contributed DNA, varous salts and oils, skin, and hair, such that I cannot be ruled out as a wearer of my hats.

(some will get this. most won't.)

 

[Neophyte]

lol..............:cry:

I got it...although I wish I hadn't.......

 

[Neophyte]

Neo, you kind of do things backward compared to other young people. Young guys usually come to the Lounge with narrower brimmed hats adorned with feathers, then as they hang around here for a while, they get a taste for wider brims and they ditch the feathers. You're a contrarian, you are.

Note that I regret trimming the Squatter. If my bashing skills had been better at the time, and had I realized that Akubra hats are meant to sit a bit higher on the head, I probably wouldn't have fudged the bash like I did. I made it too short, and thus needed to trim the brim to set it into proportion. Besides, I've still got the Campdraft for wide brim. I see a lot of 2"-2.5" brims with feathers, but never a 3". I'm at least gonna try it, a 4pack of feathers from DavidMorgan is just another 4 dollars on my order!

The Campdraft right now is my only wearable hat, and while I love it, it's kinda plain. In my 2 hat collection, there must be a balance. One plain everday hat, very casual (Campdraft), and one color-rich, feathered, flamboyant fedora (personalized Squatter). When my collection gets bigger, there will be no need for such a clearly-defined dichotomy in the variety of my hats. For now, though, "balance" is the word of the day lol!

 

[Wolfwood]

Puggarees (whatever that is)

As someone wiser around here once said, puggaree is a so-called mini-turban. When Indian soldiers were recruited into the British army and had to start using pith helmets (and ditch turbans), they effectively brought the turban with them in this mini format.

And from that it spread to safari style in general.

 

[Neophyte]

Interesting. Hmmm...so why do some people put them on fedoras?

 

[Dewhurst]

I have two customs that I perform on nearly every hat I own and one that applies only to my fedoras:

1. Remove the feathers from all fedoras and dress hats
2. Apply copious amounts of sweat in and around the sweatband area to all hats
3. Remove tags

Not necessarily in that order (except for the feather removal... that is always first!!!)

There have got to be crazy and insane ways to trick out our hats, but none of us are creative enough. Although I was thinking of carving my initials in to an old hat using a box cutter the other day. My wife shouldn't let me near the tool box.

 

[Wolfwood]

Interesting. Hmmm...so why do some people put them on fedoras?

The style sort of migrated and became "safari style". They became part of what are known as Australian slouch hats. You can also see them in many old safari movies (used with fedora style hats) etc.

The main reason for me personally is that puggaree just looks so good on some styles. Perhaps it is simply because it is different enough to set that hat apart from others, perhaps there's something more to it.

 

[150719541]

Many ways

Pins, ribbons, feathers, thousand ways to lined hats (iron or steam), colors and other way, I believe there are a lot of equal hats in the world, like cars, some people tuned equal others.

 

[Undertow]

I always remove feathers, should there be any at all (I think I've only purchased two hats with feathers anyway).

First I open the crown with some steam, let it sit for a day, then crease it. Occassionally, if I plan to wear the hat often, I will mess around with brim folding and tilting.

Otherwise, I leave mine nice and plain with a hand crease and no adornments. Although, I must admit - I have a little Stetson Imperial (which I've posted somewhere on here) that has a very short brim. I opened the crown and left it alone. Because the crown is a tall (for a short brim hat) it looks a little like a tan bowler. In any case, I left the Stetson pin on the ribbon. For shame, I know. lol

 

[AlterEgo]

Hey Neo,

I admire your modesty, but you've come a long way in the hat world in a short period of time, so don't sell yourself short.

Frankly, I much prefer the brim-trimmed Squatter on you. Cutting a perfectly fine, brand new hat took a lot of nerve, but the result is exponentially more flattering on your head. Good for you.

I make every hat "my own," even if it's a subtle touch few if any would notice. A few months ago when I got my Akubra Lawson, I took a smidge of curve out of the brim, making it ever-so-slightly flatter.

Of course, when it comes to open-crown hats, no two bashes are exactly the same, so all such hats are, by definition, unique. That's what I love about open-crown hats.

You mention puggarees. I have an old--and I mean OLD--Akubra Military Slouch (I got it when I was 11 or 12, which would make it nearly 40) that I wore constantly as a kid, so the pug that came with it got soaked with sweat so many times that the white residue would not come out even after repeated hand-washings by the stain expert, my mom She tried making a replacement pug by carefully ironing a silk scarf, but just try ironing thin, stretchy 100% silk, and you'll find it's impossible.

Searching through the attic for anything that might work as a hat band for it, I found a genuine leopard-skin belt that my mom wore in the '50s. She was a wasp-waist then, so it fit perfectly around the Slouch--I called it a Campaign or Bush Hat back then. You wanna safari hat? THAT was the ultimate safari hat!!! Talk about making it my own!

Shrinkage from perspiration and head growth put it on a top shelf for over 20 years, until I discovered this site a few years ago, which prompted me to get it down. Here, I learned where to get it cleaned, stretched, and reblocked. Suddenly, my elderly mom (who is no longer wasp-waisted) wanted her leopard skin belt back, and it was way over the top for any adult to seriously wear anyway, so I got an exact replacement Akubra pug, and now the hat is all original. Yet, having been worn on my noggin for so many years, it is undoubtedly my own.

You say you're going to get a puggaree, so let me fill you in on that subject. The ones David Morgan sells are a nice material and have a generous seven narrow pleats, but the problem is the way they are attached--with hooks.

Like you, I have an Akubra Fedora, AKA Sydney. When I first got it, I was thinking I'd wear the hat with the black grosgrain ribbon it comes with with dressier clothes, and then I could "casualize" it by attaching an add-on gray pug. Punching those sharp pug hooks at each end into into a brand new hat rubbed me the wrong way, plus, to make the pug hug the hat properly, I'd have to sink the hooks through the exisiting band, fouling the ribbon.

Accordingly, I wouldn't be able to have a readily changeable dressier/casual hat and decided to not attach the DM pug to the Sydney. It now resides on by deceased dad's narrow-brimmed black velour felt Churchill that lost its original corded hatband, a hat that's too big for me. I had to do something with that pug. Like the original, the replacement pug for my Slouch also attaches with hooks, but that's not a problem for me because that's the only band I'll ever want for that particular hat.

There's a thread somewhere on FL about pugs that are attached in a less destructive way, where to get them etc., so definitely get that type unless you're certain the hooked pug is the only hatband you'll ever want on the hat.

As for feathers, well, generally speaking, I like 'em. That's not a popular position here, but I stick one in just aft of the bow in my moonstone Fed IV Deluxe, charcoal Sydney, acorn fawn Stylmaster, even occasionally in my braided-leather-band Lawson. The key is to select a feather with colors that go perfectly with both the hat and with what I'm wearing it--meaning I sometimes have to change the feather to coordinate with my clothes. Wouldn't pair a feather with a pug, though, but I won't shoot those who do.

(By the way, the David Morgan kit comes with five, not four, feathers. They're very nice and in a pleasing variety of color combos, but every set is just like another. I got DM feather sets three years apart, and they were identical! This site has thread(s) on alternate sources.)

One final way I make a hat my own: When I'm very casually dressed--shorts or jeans or khakis and a polo shirt or tee, I always wear a bandana folded ever so carefully as a kerchief around my neck. I perspire profusely, so I pull up the bandana and wear it around my head as a sweatband as the need arises. And I confess it is a bit of a style statement, too.

Well, I have an old Eddy Bauer Panama that I wear with such clothes which has a BORING, narrow, straw-colored cotton sweat. Just this year, I began folding the bandana exactly the same way as the kerchief (first in half to make a triangle, then, starting at the 90-degree corner, folding down six times to make a long, smooth, 2-inch-wide strip), wrapping it around the crown, and tying it in a square knot at the rear to make a home-made hat band. Since I buy bandanas in identical pairs--one around my neck, the other on the Panama--I have over 40 pairs in every conceivable color that coordinate with such extra casual clothes. It really brightens up an otherwise plain-Jane Panama.

So, yes, in some way, I make every hat my own.

 

[Neophyte]

Thanks for the info on the puggaree, AlterEgo. That entire post was very informative. I was just going to buy it to try it out, since it was only $5.
The feathers are the same deal. Since DM sells sets of 4 for cheap, I thought I'd at least try it and see if I like it. Hopefully I hit the jackpot and find feathers that match up with much of my wardrobe. If I don't like 'em, I'll take 'em out, and I'm only out $4.

You'd really have to see my Squatter from a different angle than what my photos present. The bash looks really odd on my head, like cat ears on my head. I simply made the front bash too low, though my arm-length photos don't show it too well. As such, I usually have to wear it tilted pretty far back, which is frustrating because I really like the Hollywood brim flip. I may try to salvage it. In the meantime, however, I could use a black hat.
Next time, if I want to trim a hat, I will get it done professionally, like the one posted by TheInterchange in the Classifieds section.

Also, I LOVE Eddie Bauer clothing (looks good and wears tough). Most of my clothing you see in my photos are EB. I had no idea they made hats other than those "boonie" style hats.

 

[gtdean48]

...They could probably be easily re-blocked open crown and then re-creased.

:arated: Major Moore at Buckaroo Hatters re-blocked some of my "experienced" hats back to open crown. They look like they are fresh from the factory, very reasonably priced too.