RESTORING A FAVOURITE HAT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 501, 2 November 1928, Page 5

RESTORING A FAVOURITE HAT

You may have a favourite hat in the modish neutral tinted soft felt, checked or striped in some definite colour; and you may have worn this hat until It looks very soiled and shabby. It is quite a simple matter, however, to restore it. Remove the ribbon, take out the head-lining (if any), well brush the hat and give it a good bath in petrol. Do it out of doors, of course, because petrol is too dangerous to have in the house. Pour a sufficient quantity into a clean old bowl, put in the hat and squeeze out as much dirt as possible. Empty the bowl, put in some clean petrol and repeat the cleansing process. The hat should look quite fresh after the second bath. Stuff the crown firmly with tissue paper, pin a tape inside the hat at either side where the crown and brim meet, and sling it, upside down, over a line in a strong current of air. Thus both crown and brim will retain tbeir shapes. The bat should be left out of doors for at least three days in order to get rid of the smell of the

petrol. After this, it must be well brushed with a freshly-washed soft brush, beaten lightly with a cane, and, if necessary, pressed gently with a hot iron (not a hot one) over muslin on the inside of the brim.

Now get some embroidery silk in the original colour of the stripes or checks, and with a fine needle trace all the lines In darn or chain stitch. The work is quickly done and the result, if due care is taken both with the cleaning and the embroidering, will be excellent. A new ribbon and a new headlining will make the hat look as fjesh and delightful as ever.