crochet hat floppy

[Dani269]

So my crochet bucket hat was ironed by my mom who tried to surprise me with adding some patches to it and now it’s floppy what can I do to make it not floppy and maybe back to or close to its original form without ruining her patches because I appreciate the effort but I miss the original form of the hat 

[Granny Square]

Is is acrylic yarn?  Your hat, I am sorry to say, is ruined.  You cannot touch an iron to acrylic yarn, it is plastic and deforms  - not literally melting it into a molten form, but you cannot bring it back to it's nice original yarny qualities again.  You can try to cut out the patches, make another hat and SEW the patches on to the new hat, which is what Mom should have done in the first place.

There is a technique that some like to do to 'kill' acrylic, by holding a steam iron several inches away and blasting steam at it, but this should never be done to a wearable like a hat or a sweater that has to stretch to fit, it makes it like limp non-stretchy fabric.  I can sort of see doing it for a shawl or a blanket, but I personally don't like the unpleasant texture that happens - some call it 'soft', but it is, in my opinion, 'crunchy' and unpleasant.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Granny Square

[MaryPat]

I wonder if you could run millinery wire around the top edge to give back the bucket.  If it also has a brim, maybe another wire around the outside of the brim.

I've seen patterns that call for floral wire running around the brim.

 

Seem to be lots of Etsy sellers selling it.