How to Clean a Felt Hat: A Step by Step Guide
Have you ever wondered how to clean a felt hat? If you’ve ever been too nervous to tackle this task yourself, then I hope this blog will help show you how simple it can be.
A recent customer brought this fabulous wool felt Stetson hat to me for a bit of TLC.
Sadly, it had been stored on top of a wardrobe for a number of years. Naturally, it had become a magnet for dust and cat hairs!
This hat was in great nick, aside from needing a really good clean. Knowing there were no structural issues, I was confident I could restore this hat to it’s original state.
So if you’ve ever wondered how to clean a felt hat, keep reading for all my insider tips!
First off, I collected together my brushes and cleaning equipment. Then I inspected the hat a little more closely.
I have 3 brushes that I use for cleaning:
- A wire suede brush (backed with a rubber brush)
- A nylon suede brush
- A vintage boar hair clothes bush
I immediately realised that my wire brush would be far too harsh – I didn’t want to damage the felt.
(That went straight back into my brush box!)
Step 1: Lifting and Capturing the Surface Dirt
This was a three stage process, requiring a few different approaches.
I needed to prevent the dust and cat fur floating around my studio and getting into other work in progress baskets.
The top layer of dirt also had to be removed so that I could see what was underneath! I had spotted some marks, but until the first layer of grime was removed, I wouldn’t know what had caused these… or how to deal with them!
Finally, I needed to choose a safe cleaning solution for the hatband. There were heavy accumulations of dust sitting in the stitching – this needed to be removed early in the process.
I started by using packing tape to remove the very top layer of dust and cat fur.
This may be a little controversial – however it was the best tool for the job!
The tape prevents the dust and fur flying into the air or over my desk protector.
If I’d gone straight in with a brush, it would have floated and settled all over the studio.
Sophie’s Tip: You could use regular sticky tape for this step. However as packing tape is wide, it has a greater surface area… so I used less of of it!
There was no point brushing the felt further until the hat band was properly cleaned up.
I used my nylon suede brush to gently sweep away the dust deposits from the stitching.
You can see the immediate difference this made to the left of this photo. Sadly, you can also see how that dust settled onto the brim of the hat on the right of the photo!
Again, I used tape to collect up the worst of it.
Now the top layer of dirt had been removed, I could start the wet cleaning of the hat band.
If I had got this thick layer of dust wet, it would have essentially turned to slime before drying into solid, hard chunks… these would be impossible to brush out.
(Imagine mopping a mucky floor without sweeping or hoovering first!)
Step 2: Wet Cleaning the Hat Band
The hat band on this design is made from a PU coated fabric, sometimes called “pleather”.
Which is great news when it comes to wet cleaning!
I just needed a small amount of water with a couple of drops of washing up liquid.
A mild detergent was required, but using anything solvent based would damage the pleather and potentially the hat too.
Sophie’s Tip: If the hat band had been made of real leather, I would still have used this cleaning method. However, I would have been especially cautious not to get the leather too wet.
It was important not to get the water (or detergent!) on the actual hat, so I needed to work small.
First I soaked a cotton wool pad in the water and squeezed out all the excess.
Then I wiped a small area of the hat band, taking care to only make contact with the hat band.
I then used the other, clean, side of the damp cotton wool pad to repeat the cleaning over the same area.
Finally, I used a clean, dry, cotton wool pad to remove any moisture from area I had cleaned.
I continued this 3 step process, working in small sections, around the hatband.
I used different surfaces so that I could lift as much dirt as possible, without compromising the dye in the pleather.
The cotton bud was used to get into the tricky areas of vertical stitching and around the edges of the Stetson stud.
You can see what a difference this gentle cleaning made in this progress pic.
The area to the left of the Stetson stud had been fully cleaned, the right side was still waiting for a bit of attention.
(Can’t lie, I totally felt like one of conservationists cleaning up old oil painting with giant cotton buds… it was incredibly satisfying!)
With my work desk cleared of potential spill hazards (and mucky cotton wool!), it was time to start cleaning the rest of the hat!
Step 3: Brushing the Felt
First I did a gentle brush with my nylon suede brush, using short light strokes.
Starting at the top of the crown, I worked down the sides, then from the crown to the edge of the brim.
The goal was to loosen any dust that had settled into the top fibres of the felt, without damaging the nap of the felt.
I mentioned the dust that had fallen from the hat band before the wet cleaning.
I used an old (clean!) toothbrush to get into the gap between the hat band and the felt for this job.
Again, I used short light sweeps, to release this dust from the surface of the felt.
First, I went all around the top of the hat band on the crown. Then I worked around the base of the hatband, getting into the groove between the crown and the brim.
Once the deeper cleaning had been done with a slightly stiffer brushes, it was time to go in with my soft clothes brush.
This brush helps to smooth the nap of the felt and remove any dust that has settled as part of the earlier processes.
I started with the underneath of the hat, brushing the inside of the crown first, then working out to the edge of the brim.
Once this brushing had been done, I checked to see if the marks I’d seen earlier were still visible.
Sadly, they were!
Step 4: Topical Brushing
There were 3 specific marks that I needed to remove.
I used my nylon suede brush to re-visit these areas of concern.
Using small circular motions, I lightly re-brushed each spot, before brushing the area with my soft brush again.
I repeated this process on each mark until it disappeared.
The Final Results
And here is the finished hat!
I think you’ll agree, the results are quite dramatic!
Sophie’s Tips For Felt Hat Storage and Care
All hats made of felt share the same key enemies:
- Dust
- Excess moisture
- Prolonged exposure to light
- Moths
The simplest way to avoid all of this is to store your hat in a box.
It doesn’t have to be a snazzy or pretty hat box… it just needs to be big enough for the hat to fit into it, without squishing the brim or any decoration.
This customer has been provided with a hat box, complete with acid free tissue paper, to protect and support the hat whilst in storage.
If your felt hat does get a bit dusty though, using a regular clothes brush to give it a quick brush up will stop the dust from getting deeper into the fibres.
When well cared for, felt hats are incredible durable, there’s a reason wool felt has been used extensively in hatting for centuries!
If your felt hat has become a little neglected and you’re nervous about tackling the cleaning yourself, please do get in touch.
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