Tips on Re-shaping Cloth Hats

I am a “hat person”, I guess. Over the years, I have amassed a collection of cloth hats (you know, the kind with a brim all around, and a crisp, shaped top section). Not the “floppy, fisherman’s style”, but the kind that has a true “shape” when you first buy it, and keeps its shape pretty much up until the first time you wash it!

Well, as I said, I have amassed a bunch of these cloth hats in various colors (only about 10 or 11 really…nothing crazy!), and as they became soiled over a period of time and were put through the wash, I would normally end up sticking them into a closet and leaving them there. They just didn’t ‘feel right’ anymore! They would usually “shrink” just enough to be too tight, and they looked a bit “unkempt” if you know what I mean!

So, there they stayed…one after another, piling up in one of our closets. Friends and family know I am a ‘hat-person’, so they often bought me new cloth hats of this type for birthday or holiday gifts…so I guess I opted for the “brand-new” look when I could.

Well, one day I decided that all those cloth hats in the closet were not doing anyone any good piled in there like that, so I asked my wife if she knew of any way to get the original shape back. She suggested trying a spray starch (she’s a genius!), which she so kindly picked up for me while she was at the store another day.

So, I decided to try it out. But, as I thought about it, it occurred to me that I might be able to add another step to help my efforts be even more successful…

I found a stack of flower pots in our garage which just fit inside the cloth hats. I pulled each cloth hat over a flower pot…they ‘stretched’ just enough to fit nice and tight. Then, I sprayed the top part of the cloth hats with the spray starch. I let them sit for five to ten minutes, then I used a hair dryer on high heat to “set” the starch in the cloth.

I really was quite amazed at the results. All the cloth hats now had their original shape back! Oh, there were a few ‘wrinkles’ here and there, and, of course, they didn’t REALLY look brand-new, but overall they do look quite good, if I do say so myself!

As an added bonus, the flower pots were just large enough to “stretch” the fabric back out so the cloth hats once again fit comfortably…and I’m even wearing them again!

Give it a try….it really works!