Fabric hats are very different in their needs from straw and felted hats.  In order to keep your MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® designer hats looking like new, I recommend the following tips:

Handling your hats  - MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® fabric hats are well-made and durable; they will simply last longer and look more lovely if you handle them with care.  I would suggest that you try not to pick up or pull off your hat by the crown.  Instead, try to handle your hat by the edge of the brim and with two hands whenever possible! 

Storing your hats - The quickest way to wear out the shape of your fabric hats is to hang them upside down on a wall peg, putting undue stress on the crowns.  Our grandmothers knew all about hat stands and their value.  So instead, try placing your hat (well stuffed with tissue or something equally as soft) upon a hat stand that keeps the brim itself horizontal.  And one other tip: do not place the hat down upon a flat surface as this will tend to change and even ruin the shape of some of the brims. 

If you are not going to be wearing your MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® fabric hat for a while, I strongly suggest that you store her well stuffed with tissue upside down in a hatbox.  In this way, the brim will retain its glorious shape.  I tend to keep my hats all around me, elegantly resting upon their hat stands so that I can look at them often.  Twice a year, I rotate them in and out of their hatboxes like I do with the rest of my clothes, packing away the spring-summer designs when chill winds begin to blow and I long for something warmer, and vice versa when spring starts my craving for organza and linen.

NEW!  Custom Hat Boxes at MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS^® - Custom hat boxes are now available for storing and carrying your lovely hats created at MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS^®.  A free hat box is included with any MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS^® hat that sells for $298.00 or more; hat boxes are available for sale for all other hats sold at MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS^®.  Please email Sally for more price information or simply click on the following link to find out more about these lovely Hat Boxes!

Cleaning your hats - Of course nothing could be truer than the "ounce of prevention" adage when it comes to caring for fine custom millinery.  The best way to protect your hats is, of course, hatbox storage which will keep your hats both safe from undesirable mishaps and free from dust.  If, however, you display your hats out of hatboxes a good deal of the time as I do, they can begin to get that dull look.  You may even begin to wonder if they need to be cleaned somehow.  More often than not, what they need is simply a good vacuuming.  Find the softest vacuum brush attachment that you can, and go over the entire hat (flowers and all!) very gently.  Even a soft brush can be used in this same way to lightly dust off accumulated dust particles that cling to fabric hats.  You'll be amazed what a difference either method makes, and your hats will love you for it!

Email Sally for further information.

Please click on any of the following three links for the hat information that you desire, or scroll back to the top of this page if you want to return to one of the other pages at maggiemae.com:

hat sizing | hat selection | hat info