A couple of factors played into the lack of activity at the blog over
the past couple of weeks. First, I was scrambling to finish up the last
few costume projects before our preschool's all-parent production of
The Cat in the Hat.
A few late nights, some scavenging for materials, and a couple of
re-dos later, and everything came together. It was a pretty amazing
group of people who came together on the project.
Second,
my computer died. Like, completely. I took it in with a blank white
screen with only a gray apple in the middle, and when it came back to me
a little over a week later, they'd replaced the hard drive and the
logic board. Thankfully, luckily, magically, there was a week left on
the AppleCare extended warranty the Mr. had the foresight to buy. A week
later, and we'd have been paying out-of-pocket for the parts and
repairs. And it would have cost about as much as I earned on Etsy this
year. I feel really lucky.
Anyway, on to today's post.
Let's look at making some Cat in the Hat mini hat headbands!
You
can use this idea for making any kind of mini top hat, really, just by
changing the color of the stiffened felt and adding some embellishments.
Here's what you need to know.
Materials for two hats:
1 12 x 18-inch piece of stiffened felt (also called Friendly Felt) in white or glittered white
2 9 x 12-inch pieces of regular red felt or glittered red felt
red and white thread
hot glue
2 red ribbon-covered headbands
For
each hat, cut a piece of stiffened white felt that's 4 1/2 x 12 inches,
and three red stripes that are approximately 1 x 12 inches. You'll also
need a red circle that measures approximately 3-inches in diameter, and
two stiffened white circles (not one red + one white, as photographed)
measuring approximately 4 1/2 inches in diameter.
Arrange stripes as shown, then stitch in place using red thread.
Using
the red circle as a guide, pin the striped felt into a tube that will
use the red circle as a top. You can either pin it inside out to machine
stitch and turn carefully right side out again, or you can pin right
side out and hand stitch using a mattress or a slip stitch. Both ways
will work.
After pressing that seam to make sure the tube
retains its round shape, sew the red circle to the top using red thread
to whip stitch it in place.
Center the hat's top on one of the white circles, then use red thread to whip stitch it in place.
Hot
glue the hat to a headband, then cut slots on either end of the
remaining white circle to accommodate the head band (as photographed).
Line
the circle up with the underside of the hat and the headband, then hot
glue in place. Make sure to use lots of glue on the headband, and a
scant amount of glue on the white felt so that it doesn't leak through.
Then whip stitch to the hat and you're done!
Use
similar materials for Mad Hatter or steam punk style hats! Switch to
black or brown felt and headbands, and add feathers, ribbons, and other
embellishments. And then send me a link so I can see what you've made!
Thanks for reading!
p.s. you can make these photos larger by clicking on them for more detail!
