Caroline Riepler held a rust colored hat with intricate farm designs burned into the sides — a windmill, flowers, a tractor and a barn. Caroline Riepler displays custom designs she burned into a hat, including flowers, a tractor and a windmill. (Pamela Johnson / Loveland Reporter-Herald) “My dream is to have a farm, a holistic one, to teach from,” said Riepler at a recent hat-burning workshop in Loveland, describing how she drew the designs and then burned them into the hat using a wood-burning tool.
“It’s my passion. It’s my design. I just want to show my heart.
” Riepler, who has been sewing since she was in 4-H as a child and has been hat burning since November, has turned her love of designing Western wear and accessories into a business, Western Border and Co. She sells her designs and supplies for those who want to do it themselves, and she teaches workshops frequently in Loveland. Hat burning is a popular trend, she said, made even more so by country singer Lainey Wilson.
“It kind of flew off, I think, from her fashion sense,” said Riepler. “Wood burning has been around for a while but it kind of flew off from her.” The beauty of the art form is that people can make a hat, or a bag, or even a pair of boots into something custom, something with a design specific to them using a wood-burning tool.
Leather, suede, faux leather and suede, and even some types of straw products work well. She has custom designs, a way for people to reflect their own draw.