I Made A Hat, The Last of My Steam Punk Costume

  So I am very proud of myself.  I made a hat.  All by myself.  Well okay I didn't actually make one, so much as alter one. And trust me I wanted to make one, but looking on line there were lots of ways to make one.  And they all seemed really complicated.  And after the issues I had with making my spats, I was not going to have any of it.  So I just decided to alter a hat.
 Just to give you an idea, this is for my steam punk costume.  Here is my last post about my costume.

This is the hat I started with, I got it at party city.  I forgot to take a picture so took this one off their site.  Imagine that is me, she is almost as hot as me.

  I first had bought these little plastic hats at the dollar store.  But they were flimsy and I wanted to have the hat on clips so it would stay in my hair.  So as soon as the party store started bringing out their Halloween things I grabbed the cheapest mini hat I could.  Now cheap it was not, I paid almost $15 for this sucker.  And I sort of kick myself, but at the same time, I knew it was the only way without actually having to try and make one.  And that would have ended up costing me more I bet.  So I got it.  I also went to Micheal's and got a feather patch thingy, you know like the ones that were all the rage on head bands for a while?  Well I got that in a nice brown colour and I was all set.

I thought I took a better picture but obviously not, so here is my hat, from the side.  I love it!

  I really only had one shot at this as I was almost out of fabric for my costume.  I had actually ruined a good deal of it trying to make Hubby a vest.  I failed miserably at it.  Could have something to do with the fact I did most of it while watching TV, but who really can say, right?

  So to start I had to cut off the crappy flower and netting that was on the hat already.  And it was hot glued to that sucker good.  I was so nervous that I was going to rip the hat.  It was only thick cardboard from what I could tell.  So I got that off then I had to think about how to put the fabric on.  I didn't want a plain smooth hat, I wanted it to look more rich.  Not sure how to explain what I wanted, but I got it.  So it's all good.

This is just a bunch of watch parts and a few Tim Holtz gears.

  To start I cut out a huge circle of fabric, one that would be big enough to cover the whole hat.  Then I took some hot glue and glued the top of the hat to the middle of that circle.  I found that the hot glue really was not sticking that great, so I had to get some fabric glue.  And that worked like a charm.  Once the fabric was set I started to pull the fabric down to have it pleat how I liked and I pushed long sewing pins through the fabric and the hat all around the hat, where the hat band would cover.  I had bent each pin, which was really thick so that it would not come back out.  Then I glued the fabric down over the top of the brim, all the way around using cloths pegs to hold it to dry.

I am mad at myself for not being neater with the glue as you can see it a bit on the brim, but what can you do, I won't see it when I am wearing it, so that is all that really matters right?

  Once that was dry I started gluing the fabric down over the brim, to cover the bottom.  Again I used glue and cloths pegs to hold it all together while it dried.  After it dried I went back and glued down any bits that had not been secured.  Then I took a thick ribbon I had bought before to use on the costume and glued that around the hat, holding it with another thick pin.

  Once that was dry, I used some more fabric glue and painted it around the pins, on the inside of the hat.  This way they would be stable, then I took my jewelry cutters and cut the pins so they were still holding the hat and fabric, but they were now not long and did not pose any stabbing issues.

  So once I did that I glued on the feather bunch over the ribbon where the ribbon seam was.  Looking back I should have sewed it on a bit too.  More on that later.  So I did that and then set to work making a charm to go on the hat.

  I have this bag of old watch parts so I just started with a big watch face and added some of the large Tim Holtz gears I had, then I just kept gluing parts on, I was trying to get some height out of it.  So I did that and left it so set.

These are the clips that came on the hat, so I hope it holds, I  may need a liter of hair spray, or something.

  Once it was set I glued it onto the hat.  And I was thrilled.  So I showed Pork Chop who wanted to try it on, and I let him, so I could take a picture for Facebook.  Then he dropped it and the watch parts almost fell off.  So I ended up adding lots more glue.  Then I went back and sewed a few stitches through the feathers and the watch parts to make it more sturdy.

  Over all I love it, I just don't know how to wear it, my hair is kind of short, so I have to think of a way to wedge it on my head some how, I just think it is the cutest hat ever.

  So there you go, and I promise to share pictures from Halloween, we will see how it all goes.

I'll be like a little mad hatter, just cooler.