Cleaning a felt hat from dirt, dust and grease stains

Felt is a material made from rabbit wool and has different textures, colors and densities. The most familiar felt products for us are hats, for men and women, which have been relevant since the day of their birth. Over time, only the styles change.

Hats and hats made of felt are original and beautiful, but, like any item of clothing, they get dirty. Therefore, it is necessary to clean them periodically. You can take it to the dry cleaner, but now we are talking about how to clean a felt hat yourself.

Relevance of the issue

Felt items are not washable. If there are stains, it is advisable to first determine their origin and only then decide on a cleaning agent.

Cleaning a felt hat at home is not difficult. Before you start cleaning your hat, you should remove any dust from it. To do this, use a regular clothes brush or a vacuum cleaner with a small attachment.

You can also use the following mixture: simple table salt, ammonia and vinegar in a ratio of 1/2/2. Wipe the most contaminated areas with a thoroughly mixed mixture.

What kind of fabric is it and what is it made from?

The name felt fabric comes from the French word feutre and is a type of felt, which is a non-woven material obtained by felting wool or fluff.

The modern assortment is represented by different types of felt, in which synthetic fibers are used, giving the material new properties.

Classification:

1. Wool felt. Material made from natural fibers (most often sheep or goat wool is used) is used for small products. It is capable of deformation and emits a specific unpleasant odor when damp. During use, pellets form on the surface.
2. Wool blend. In this variety, approximately half of the composition is acrylic and viscose fibers. When touching the skin, there is no irritation characteristic of clean wool. The textile is smooth, soft, has a wide range of colors, but is unstable during prolonged contact with moisture. May fade and lose shape. Suitable for making decorative parts and small items.
3. Acrylic. It has gained popularity due to its good elasticity, strength, low thickness, and a variety of rich colors. This felt is easy to clean, does not fade, and retains its shape. Allows you to make things of various shapes and degrees of complexity.
4. Polyester. Due to the strength of the fibers, it is one of the most wear-resistant varieties. Popular for making bulky items - bags, cases, toys.
5. Viscose. It is characterized by high strength. It is recommended for creating small design details and decorations, since it can lose its shape after washing.

What does felt fabric look like?
The main area of ​​application for felt is handicrafts. They make toys and decorative elements to decorate a variety of products. Felt hats, bags and shoes are popular. Elastic, durable varieties are suitable for upholstery of upholstered furniture.

For creativity, we offer modeling felt, which when wet becomes plastic and allows you to model any shape. The created configurations are saved after drying.

Among the advantages of felt are environmental safety and ease of processing. It is important for needlework that the cuts do not fall off. This allows you to create appliqués, various brooches and other decorative details.

Attracts good wear resistance, wide color palette. This material retains heat well. The main disadvantage is loss of shape if not properly cared for.

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Removing greasy stains

Some useful tips:

• You will need to mix denatured alcohol and ammonia in a ratio of 1/1. Wet a piece of coarse cloth in this solution and wipe the contaminated areas.
• Using a solution of table vinegar and water in a ratio of 1/1, remove white limescale stains.
• To remove particularly greasy stains, use a stain remover or purified gasoline. Please note that the stain remover is only suitable for cleaning white hats because it leaves a white residue when it dries.
• You can also use simple starch to remove grease stains. Take a simple toothbrush, dip it in starch and wipe off the dirt. Leave until completely dry. Then the dry area is cleaned with a brush and wiped against the lint with water and vinegar in a ratio of 1 tsp. per 100 ml respectively. Next, the hat is dried on a jar.

Oily, greasy stains

Such stains can often be found even on a hat, and therefore you need to know how to properly wash a hat in order to get rid of them.

1. Black felt hats can be cleaned using a crust of rye bread. It is recommended to use stale bread. The remaining residue can be removed using a regular brush.
2. You can also use regular table salt, as it is a good absorbent, and therefore can absorb fat in a few hours. You only need to remove the marks later with a damp cloth.
3. Old stains may not easily disappear from the product, and therefore you will have to use aggressive agents, such as purified gasoline. You can remove dirt using a cotton pad or napkin soaked in the solution. In this case, you should use light blotting movements. You should not moisten this area too much, as the pile will not lie as before.

4. You can restore an attractive appearance using a mixture of potato starch and gasoline. You need to mix the ingredients in quantities that will help achieve the consistency of sour cream. The mixture must be applied to the stain and wait until it dries. Later you can simply remove it with a brush.

We also recommend reading: Caring for faux leather shoes, how to care for eco-leather shoes

Bleaching felt products

Hydrogen peroxide can be used to clean the yellowish tint that sometimes appears on light and white felt hats. The mixture is prepared in the following proportion: 3 tbsp. l. hydrogen peroxide and 1 tsp. ammonia. Using a brush, yellowness is removed.

If yellowness affects a large area, then ordinary bran or semolina can correct the situation. The groats must be thoroughly rubbed in from the outside, and then thoroughly beaten out from the back. After this procedure, the hat will be like new.

If after all the cleansing operations the white color has faded a little, then talc can help. Sprinkle onto the surface of the product and clean it with an anti-lint brush.

It is also possible to use sodium hydrogen sulfate to bleach felt. 15 g of powder is diluted in a liter of water. Then chalk is added here. You need to get a mixture like thick sour cream.

This solution is applied to the hat with a brush, then dried, after which the remaining chalk is removed with a brush.

How to Improve the Look of an Old Hat

If you store the product correctly, it will please the eye longer. There are not so many storage conditions that it is difficult to comply with them. You need to choose a dry place where dust will not fall. A regular cardboard box is ideal for this. At the same time, it is worth understanding that it cannot save you from odors, and therefore you should keep them away from strong sources of them, since this material absorbs them well.

When a hat is put away for storage for a long period of time, you should take care of its condition so that later you can use it immediately, and not think about how to update it. Therefore, it is recommended to stuff the inside with soft paper, wrap it in cloth and put it in a box. You should not use a crochet hook, as it will lose its shape if left in this state for a long time.

It is worth taking care to clean the hat before putting it away for long-term storage. Often, dry cleaning may be required in this case. If this does not help, then you can cover the stain with jewelry: a ribbon or a brooch.

You need to carefully select methods for caring for your headdress so that it pleases you with its beauty for a long time and looks cost-effective. Taking care of such things is not difficult if you know how to get rid of dirt quickly and efficiently.

Removing sweat and dust

Sweat stains are cleaned with ammonia. The brush is dipped in alcohol, and the dirty area is thoroughly wiped until completely clean. After this, wipe the cleaned area with a damp cloth.

Dust and sweat individually are quite easy to clean, but together they can form a rather difficult mixture to clean. You can clean such contamination with a saline solution.

To prepare it you need one and a half tablespoons of table salt, 5 tbsp. l. table vinegar, 5 tbsp. l. ammonia. Mix thoroughly until the salt is completely dissolved. For wiping, use a clean white cloth, which is moistened in the solution and wiped dirty places with it.

After this, the hat is wiped with a dry cloth. In general, to prevent such contamination, it is advisable to place a layer of cotton fabric between the inner leather tape.

Detergents

You can make your own detergent that does not harm felt products.

You will need to turn a bar of baby soap into shavings on a fine grater. Place it in a glass liter jar and carefully pour boiling water over it. Leave under a terry towel for an hour and then stir until smooth. The resulting soap mass removes dirt well and preserves the brightness of the colors.

From the range of ready-made detergent compositions for felt items, it is recommended to use liquid or gel ones.

They quickly dissolve even in warm water and can be completely rinsed, especially when the procedure is carried out in several steps. This approach ensures that there are no whitish streaks and will be visible after drying.

For colored felt, it is important to use brands with the appropriate markings to prevent strong leaching of the coloring pigment.

Washing gel

The following types of concentrated gel are suitable: Chirton, Gallus, Meine Liebe, Wellery Delicate color, Sion, Kao Emerl and others.

A little about the rules of operation and storage

There are certain rules for using hats, following which will keep the products in their original form for many years.

• For example, a hat is not hung on a hook (this leads to its deformation), but is placed on a flat surface on a hat shelf.
• Felt hats are not worn in rain and snow, as moisture causes them to lose their shape.
• If this happens, you should wipe it in the direction of the nap with a brush and place it on a glass jar to dry.
• If visible marks remain on the hat after the rain, which is quite likely with modern acid precipitation, then they can be removed by simply holding the hat over boiling water in a small saucepan. After this, the stains will go away.
• If the hat is old and has a shabby appearance, then you can also restore its youth by treating it with steam and then stroking it with a brush.

It is better to store felt products out of season in a box, first stuffing the inside with newspaper.

Cleaning the lining

The lining quickly gets dirty as it comes into contact with the scalp, face and hair. It also needs to be cleaned.

Washing is the most effective way to clean the lining of a hat. The lining fabric needs to be torn off. However, this method requires skill. If they are not there, it is better to use dry cleaning.

A method in which you don’t have to remove the lining:

• take 100 milliliters of water and ammonia, mix;
• wet the gauze bandage with the solution;
• turn out the lining of the hat and process it evenly;
• wait for the fabric to dry and return it to its original place.

Advice! If there are stains on a hat that are difficult to remove, it is better not to clean them yourself, not to spoil the headdress, but to seek help from the nearest dry cleaner.