I recently got on Pinterest and I saw someone pinned my Hat Tutorial... and then I remembered when I lasted tried to edit it, things went... bad.
So here is my attempt to re-post this tutorial, and hopefully the pictures will actually match with the steps. To make this easier I am just going to write out the steps, and then have the pictures one after the other in the order that you see the steps!
I hope that this encourages other people to make their own hats and please send me pictures or post links to them in the comments below! :)
You will need: 2 felt hats. Glue, preferably fabric glue, but I have used hot glue as well (just be careful with what kind of fabric you are using and test stuff out!), Scissors, Hairclip/comb/ribbon. Trim of your choice.
Step one.
Take one of your felt hats and scissors. Start off by cutting the brim of your hat. Yes, your going to cut your hat into pieces. After you cut the brim off, make a slit up the side, to the top of the hat.
Good, now cut the rest of the body of the hat off from the very top of the hat, keeping the top of the hat's circular/oval shape. So now you have a bunch of hat pieces, right? This is going to be the pattern you will use for the fabric. The best part is that after you have cut this one hat up you don't have to cut another one up. Just keep the pieces and you can make more in the future!
Step two.
After you have chosen your fabric, take the pieces of your cut up hat and proceed to cut your fabric. Remember to cut the pieces a little larger than your pattern (you can trim it later if needed). This will insure that your pieces are not too small and that none of the black felt will be visible.
For the brim, I cut two pieces. One for the top and one for the bottom. You don't have to do both, its just what I like to do to give a more finished look. With fabrics that have more give then others, I make the hole on the topside of the brim smaller, where the bottom piece the opening will be the same size as the opening. The brim on the bottom will be slightly wider than the top piece. (Hopefully I haven't lost you yet!)
Step three.
Its now time to bring out your glue. I start with the brim first. You don't have to, but I think it looks better this way. Take your uncut hat and apply the glue around the top of the brim. If using fabric glue, let the glue sit on the hat so that it can get nice and tacky for when you put the fabric on. Slip the top cover of the brim over the hat and smooth it over the brim, and fold over the extra fabric to the other side of the brim and glue it down. You can also just cut the fabric if folding it becomes too bulky. After you have secured your fabric over the brim, again let the hat sit for a while.
This process can be a bit long and tedious, but it is well worth the wait and effort. After your feel that the glue has dried enough, you can then put the very top piece onto the hat. Apply the glue on top and them smooth over the fabric.
The middle section of the hat at this point should still be exposed (except for the bottom of the brim of course). Take your fabric and glue, and put the glue on the top and bottom edge of the fabric. Now fold it over so that it looks like you have a clean hem (for those of you who do sew, you can actually hem it!). After the glue has dried enough on the fabric it is time to go ahead and glue on the middle section.
Your going to wrap the fabric around the hat, making sure that the folded sides are facing into the hat. One side will over lap the other, this is normal. This is where I like to do another fold and glue it down, making it appear that there is a seam going up the side of the hat.
Now, if you want to, you can take the bottom brim fabric and fold over the edge, or you can glue the piece on and then trim the edge (I have a feeling pictures are going to make this much easier to understand). Again, this gives the hat a clean look once you glue the bottom piece.
Step Three is Finally Complete and you now have a fully fabric covered hat!
This is where it gets easier. Before you plug in your glue gun, play around with your trim a bit to find the best look for your hat. After you have an idea of what you want your hat to look like your ready to start gluing!
Before anything, I like to glue down my ribbon/band around my hat. After that I will add a bow, flowers, or a pendent to go on the front or side of my hat. After I have finished with my gluing, sometimes I will add a string of beading onto the hat if I feel that it needs it. In this tutorial I have chosen a black band, Jeweled black heart, and red feathers.
Step five.
I always add my hair clip or ribbon at the end. You don't have to go by this example completely, its just how I like to do it. If you're using a hair clip, I like to make sure that the clip is about the same width as the opening of the hat because the hat will have better support on your head. I place the clip right in the middle and use the hot glue gun to glue each end of the clip to my hat. With ribbons you can either sew them in, or glue them. Its going to be faster and easier to glue, but with sewing you might feel more at ease about how tight you tie your hat on to your head.
And now you have your very own mini top hat!
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