Visor sewing tutorials.

[ErWeSa]

Well here it is, it took me over an hour to do about twenty five stitches because I screwed it up the first time but I guess that's understadable being this is the first time I did this. I had a hard time starting because the liner is rolled up on the inside (what a pain in the ass!) and I had a hard time lining up the holes especially on the pasteboard but it got easier as the visor pulled it self straight. I also managed to find thread that was the exact color of the hat material. I didn't go back the other way because my old fingers and knuckles kept locking up on me. I want to thank Wolfgang a third time for the help, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to fix this. All opinions welcome.


BillAttachment 1692972Attachment 1692973Attachment 1692974Attachment 1692975Attachment 1692976

Bill, you did a great job! Just as it should be! You will see, in a couple of days you will feel the need to finish the job in the other direction and then you have a perfectly restored cap!

Gentlemen, one bit of advice: don't tell too many (particularly sellers!) that you are able to do this or prices for caps with loose bills might rise.

[ErWeSa]

And one more thing: WARNING! This is highly addictive! Once you've started, it is hard to stop. When you see what can be done and how damaged caps can be repaired you will want to go on and on and on....

[SHEMP H]

Thank you gents, if you look closely at the external photos the stitches that can be seen are the original stitches! None of my stitches can be seen, they're all hidden under the piping. Was this tailor in a hurry?


Bill

[Adrian]

Well I can't see them! The visor on my cap was sewn on with a tan coloured thread yet you can see black stitching beneath the piping. I don't know what that thread is holding in place.

[Adrian]

And one more thing: WARNING! This is highly addictive! Once you've started, it is hard to stop. When you see what can be done and how damaged caps can be repaired you will want to go on and on and on....

This is true. I have a couple that could do with a few stitches on the visor. I've never touched them because the visors aren't going anywhere, loose but attached. Now I might reinforce them once I've done the cap that is the reason I started the thread.

[Adrian]

I finally managed to get round to repairing my cap properly today.

I snipped the end of the temporary repair thread that was holding the visor in place as per my previous post.

I used Gütermann extra strong thread that can be found easily. You can see the difference in thickness between this and normal cotton in the photos.
I chose a suitable colour that wouldn't show too much if I made a mistake.

I threaded my needle and as Wolfgang suggested, started about an inch back from the start of the visor, made a knot or two in my thread and started sewing, trying to gap the stitches as per the holes on the actual visor.

Once I reached the visor I pulled the thread as tight as possible and continued round, pulling the thread tight every six times through the visor.

I know I should have missed every other hole to come back along but they were really hard to locate in the sweatband due to dried grease and some fraying of the leather edge so on this occasion I just went straight through every hole in one direction because I needed a bit of space between the layers to locate holes which would have been difficult if they the pulled tight after the first run.

Anyway after an hour or so I was pleased with the result, no visible stitches from the front and only one hole in my fingers.

The black thread that is just visible under the piping is not my work, it's tight so I can only guess it's part of the original construction of the cap.

[ErWeSa]

Well done! One could, of course, also use two needles and fill all the holes in one go, but this is for specialists only I am afraid (I have never tried to do this), anyway, here is how it would go: How to Hand Stitch Leather - Saddle Stitch Tutorial, Beginner Leatherwork - YouTube
This method has the added advantage that the seam won't open, even if one stich breaks.

[Adrian]

There's a challenge......

[SHEMP H]

Wow, helluva nice job Adrian

[Adrian]

A quiet night at work last night and I did some repairs to my first ever visor purchase twenty years ago, a Heer Signals EM/NCO.

I knew the visor was loose but didn't really mess around with it because the sweat band was loose and fragile. I have no idea if it's the original or a replacement.

The whole front was tacked together by a loose running stitch in black thread so I removed half of it and left the other as it was because it was holding the visor roughly in place until my stitching got around to it and then I took out the remaining black thread.

There was also some tan thread in there as well which was visible below the lower piping so I took that out too. (Not the thread holding the lining in place).

Whoever had done the repair before me had made extra holes in the visor so the holes you can see at the ends of the visor are not the originals.

The sweatband edge is incredibly fragile and it has detached from the back of the cap and I will tackle that at a later date.

It has a rip in it on the right hand side as you look at the final interior photo so I had to pinch it in a bit and a lot of the original holes were not usable so I had to freestyle quite a lot but overall I was happy with the result, a firmly fixed visor and a cap that doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart.

I have no idea what the blue material is at the front but it's firmly fixed to the cap.