this is my first post with images, we'll see what happens.....

So, start with one very boring baseball cap- add some fun fabric, dillybobbles and other goodies and you end up with an over the top teaparty hat.

Started with a baseball hat that needed to be destroyed in order to be saved-  cut the bill off and then fit the hat to my head

These are the supplies I started with- didn't end up using the flowers or the kids belt, though I still think it would make a fun hat band

Covered the crown with pink linen and hot glued it in place

used some wonderful, mid-weight light teal fabric I had in the stash to fashion a hat brim- I then cheated and took it to a friend of mine who has a professional sewing machine and had him sew hat and brim together- then back to work for me.

Found this fun sheer material that had three-dimensional silver stars and dots scattered over it- I tried to resist but I couldn’t, so it went over the crown.

Found this fun sheer material that had three-dimensional silver stars and dots scattered over it- I tried to resist but I couldn’t, so it went over the crown

White dillybobbles or pompoms were glued on for the hat band.

To stiffen the hat brim and give it some shape I have pipe cleaners/chenille stems in the edge of the brim- they’re held in place with some quick stitching which is made prettier by using variegated baby lash yarn on the edge

The decoration on the brim is pasta that was dyed using food color- the small pieces, which the package called stars but I think look more like flowers, were tossed around with a few drops of red food coloring giving them a multi-tonal look- the bow tie pasta started the same way, but after shaking and shaking the dye stayed on only the edges and standy up parts- I added a few tablespoons of water and gave the pasta a quick rinse and then let them drain and dry- the pasta were attached with tacky glue

The tie to keep the hat on in the strong winds we get in my world is made from braided clear and silvery/shiny lanyard lacing/gimp and is attached with glue and then sewn on because the glue didn’t work.   

I freely admit I stole the idea, sorta- where I work we were doing a program on how to make a hat, so some of us brain stormed and came up with using a baseball cap with the bill cut off as the base and then decorating it- the hats that were made for that project were pretty tame and, well, boring.  So I used the idea as a starting point and this is the result.

Hope it’s enjoyed- and yes I plan on it being my summer gardening hat- it’s big, floppy, and actually fits- this is the perk of using a fitted baseball hat to begin with- if making such a chapeau I suggest making the hat just a little larger than you think you need, by the time the fabric is turned under, glued into place, and the strap is added mine is fitting a bit snug.


back of hat


front of hat, the shiny thing on my shirt is the gimp chin strap


top of hat