Rescuing It. A Lesson in Saving

I have to admit I don't collect shoes they don't thrill me.  But I have a weakness for hats. I love all sorts of hats. Don't loan me hat, I will invariably misplace it only to find it 6 months later and be too embarrassed to return it. Then it goes in the secret hat stash.

My husband bought me a new hat on vacation.I had packed lightly and forgot my SPF 50 hat, since the Sarcoidosis I have been avoiding the sun to keep it in remission.. Oh ya did y'all know I have a chronic illness. Really its fun OK its not.  I like sitting in the sun. Oh well the cancer Dr when I'm 60 will appreciate it.

So here we are taking long walks going to the boardwalk and I have no hat. (Cause it lives in the car and I forgot to move it from the regular car to the rental).  So My Knight In Shining Armor decided I needed a new one.  We found a cute white woven paper fedora. I Love this hat it's so awesome. 

Last week I found the Dog had stolen it and decided she needed to sleep on it. At least she didn't chew it up. I almost cried. I loved That Hat..  It's stitches were torn  it was mangled and creased and worst of all it's whiteness was all doggy smell, hair and dirt. Whaaaaaaaa.

I figured I had to throw it away, "What a waste, I'll never get a clean or fix it." I thought. But I remembered My grand mothers old trick of saving thread from the pants she was hemming. If you save the threads you get perfectly matched thread. So I saved the hanging threads, and stuffed the hat over Little M's old cowboy hat. Left it in the bathroom where it would pick up lots of moisture slowly.  After 3-4 days it was loosing some of the dents and creases.  So today I sewed up all the rips and tears between the braided paper strips with the old threads. I had enough to do it by hand.

Then I took to washing it with an old tooth brush and as it got wet it swelled so I stuffed it back over the Cowboy hat and popped it back into the sun, which did a great job of bleaching out many of the stains, and got rid of the smell.  The cowboy hat acted as a form and I was able to let it dry in the right shape.

I have my hat back not as good as new but it looks just fine Yippie!!!! I'm so glad I didn't toss it!