I think if you can take something old and give it a new life and purpose that's great. It saves it from potentially being thrown out and it will make it a unique "one off" piece.
I love giving charity shop hats a new lease of life! Taking something that has been discarded and making it into a individual new creation for someone else to treasure, what a great life story. Sometimes it's the kindest thing to do to a hat that has seen better days and can't be renovated.
I included one of my projects into a blog about Sheffield's old hat shops as part of a pop up shop collaboration with two other Sheffield-based milliners earlier in the year...it's a bit of a beast, but scroll down for the before and after pics and the story behind the milliner who made the original hat.
This 80's leftover was beyond redemption, but was made from a beautiful fine weave straw with a linen effect (that I just can't seem to find from a supplier here in the UK!) which makes it totally unique. Plus, the brim is still waiting to be made up in another design, great value for materials I can't source as new ;o)