Reading can be a great inspiration. Having finally made my way to reading the Parasol Protectorate series (by Gail Carriger) I found myself in a hat making mood. I think it was the seaweed-like hat displays that did it. Taking a page from Madame Lefoux I made some hats.
These hats are quick, easy and quirky accessories to add to any outfit. Try wearing them to the races or a wedding.
The top hats are made to be attached to a hairclip, slide or headband.
- Card
- Hot glue gun
- Fabric
- Glue (PVA or similar)
- Padding/foam
- Interfacing
- Stationary - pen, ruler, compass, scissors...
- Decorating extras - ribbon, beads, feathers.....
The toppers are made of three pattern pieces the brim, the crown, and the tip.
The brim is nice and easy to make, using a compass draw a circle (my hats have a brim that is about 11.5cm in diameter)
Draw a smaller circle inside inside the brim circle. make the circle as small as you want the base of your crown to be (in my hats this circle is 3cm in diameter) Cut both circles so you are let with a doughnut shape.
Trace another circle, this time for the tip of your hat. Make tis circle as big as you want the top of your crown to be (in my hats this circle is 6cm in diameter) Cut out the inside of this circle rather than the out side (see picture of brim and tip above)
Now to make the crown pattern completely math free!!!!
Roll a piece of paper into a cone. place cone through your two circles with the bigger tip circle at the wider end and the smaller brim circle at the narrower end. Use a vivid or pen to trace around each circle and down the join in the paper (see picture above)
unravel the paper and you should have a traditional crown half circle, add a 1cm overlap the one end of the crown (see picture)
Cardboard base
Cut 2 circles for the brim
1 circle for the tip
1 crown piece *tip - make sure you place the crown piece in line with the grain of the card otherwise you won't get a smooth finish when you bend the crown.
Fabric
Crown - cut 2 (adding a 1cm seam allowance all the way around
Brim - cut 2 (adding a 2cm seam allowance)
Tip - cut 1 of padding and 1 of fabric (adding a 2cm seam allowance)
Cut
Clip around seam allowance of brim and tip circles to make tabs. You can see in the picture it looks like a funny looking asterisk.
*Tip don't clip all the way to the card edge leave about 1-2mm, this should stop ant frayed edges from showing.
Glue
On brim and tip circles fold and glue the tabs you clipped earlier. (see picture)
Glue the two brim pieces together and place under a weight so they dry flat.
Turn the fabric over and glue down the edges on one side of the crown (see pictures above) this will be the overlapping outside edge.
*Tip- to make life easier roll the crown while it is drying.
Putting the pieces together
Glue down the side of the crown.
Fold over the rough edges at the end of the crown then sew the crown to the brim.
Decorate
After you have decorated your hat to your satisfaction you just need to glue it to your hairclip or headband of choice. Then its fit to wear.