Comments on: Polished Top Hat

By: emma

emma — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:34:14 +0000

where can you get tallow?

By: Charles Rupert Tsua

Charles Rupert Tsua — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:23:53 +0000

From my conversations with Patey, they told me that one should polish silk toppers with tallow as that will waterproof the silk.

By: CjL

CjL — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:21:00 +0000

I managed to make a velvet pad [some velvet and some wadding stuffed inside] and bought a brush from eBay

I just got a top hat that is flawless and needs no restoration whatsoever [extremely lucky on eBay that day]. I may get it reconformed to fit perfectly [easil done] but I need not clean the hat at all. I may polish it though to get a higher sheen.

By: Alexander

Alexander — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:00:50 +0000

I made my velvet pad, I just bought a sheet of cotton velvet (Silk obviously works, as does cotton, and the Lock & Co velvet pad is rayon, so that works too. I’d avoid true synthetics like polyester though, as I wouldn’t trust the plastic on the hat silk).

I won three hat brushes (and a clothes brush) in an eBay auction – click here.

By: CjL

CjL — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:17:05 +0000

Did you end up buying a velvet pad or making one? I am soon to be the recipient of a top hat that I will need to clean up but I’m rather loath to spend £20 on a velvet pad and a further £30 on a hat brush. Methinks eBay may have some vintage hat brushes and I can just fashion a velvet pad easily from a scrap provided by a local fabric shop…

I seem to have recently become obsessed with top hats though! I need to find the perfect one but this either means spending £1k at a hatters or buying something from eBay with a bit of trial and error [buy, try, clean, resell, repeat until found perfect style/price, get reconformed at a hatters...]. Lol

By: Emmie

Emmie — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:32:23 +0000

J – I will make sure to pressure my husband in to wearing the topper! I wish there was a good occasion to dress up. My sister gets married in July but I’m not sure she’d appreciate us coming in fancy clothes when she is having a simple wedding.

By: J Gumby

J Gumby — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:07:23 +0000

Beautiful hat! Congratulations. I want one just like that, but where I live (in Australia) they are as rare as hen’s teeth. Even more rare is an opportunity to wear a top hat in Australia. Now we just need to see a photo of it in action!