Hat's off to a how-to!

I am always in desperate need of cute hair accessories for my girls. The older one can't keep her hair orderly if her life depended on it, and the younger one has so little hair (that looks like a mullet if it's not "done") that we just NEED to do something with it.

While visiting my sister this past week, I realized just how much we're lacking in the cute hair accessory department.

So I made a few tiny top hats!!

To make your own, you'll need:

* The template (below)
* cardboard (cereal box works - construction paper and poster board do, too)
* hot glue gun
* scissors
* fabric glue (optional, but it cleans up the edges well)
* about a square foot of fabric

First, print out the template.

click to view larger

































Select "scale to fit media" in your printing options.

Cut out the template, and fold the long piece at the dotted line.

Roll the template into a cylinder, placing the straight edge over the dotted line. Cut any excess and make any adjustments at this time. 

After the hat's the shape you want, flatten it out and trace the template onto your cardboard (I used a cereal box)

 Cut out the shapes, and fold the long piece as shown above.

The smaller circle will become the top of the hat. Test fit it into the wider part of the cylinder. You may need to trim it a tad to get it to fit.

Remove the top and cut fabric to wrap around the cylinder. Hot glue one end, and wrap it around, hot gluing the other end.

Squeeze some hot glue into the cylinder, and tuck the fabric in. Continue all the way around, and then do the same on the other side.

Cut enough fabric to cover the top of the hat. Squeeze a bead of hot glue around the perimeter and fold the fabric onto it.

it should look like this (but hopefully neater ;-)) when you're finished.

Place hot glue inside the top of the cylinder (the wider part) and press the top into it. 

Trace the larger circle onto a piece of fabric and cut it out. Cut a piece of fabric larger than the larger circle, as well.

I smeared hot glue along most of the circle, thinly. Then I pressed the circle onto the larger piece of fabric (reserve the circle you traced/cut for later).

As with the top of the hat, glue and fold the fabric around the circle. This time I made sure to be a little more neat, since this part will be visible.

Thinly apply hot glue onto the other side of the hat, and press the circle fabric into place. I squeezed fabric glue along the edge and pressed it, creating a neat edge.

Apply fabric glue or hot glue to the base of the hat, and press onto the large circle. Make sure it's centered.

You can glue head bands, hair ties or gator clips to these. I wouldn't recommend using bobby pins or any type of clip that you have to press to close, as it'll bend the hat and come off quickly.

This is what your final product should look like! You can adorn it more with ribbon, feathers, buttons, flowers... The possibilities are... well, not endless, but there are a lot of 'em! :-)

These can be used as photography props (newborns in top hats? YES, PLEASE!), halloween costumes, bridal accessories, or... just to make your kids look cute..!

Please, link back to my tutorial if you do this! I'd LOVE to see! 

(I'm linking this up to Sew Dang Cute's craft alongside the stars here)

NOTE: This template/tutorial is for personal use only. Not to be produced for sale. If you wish to sell items using this tutorial, please contact me for written permission.