Today I'm bringing you a step-by-step tutorial (with photos!) on how to make a miniature top hat, without sewing. This tutorial is meant to be quick and easy, so obviously the end result is not as.... "pretty" as it would be if I had spent hours meticulously sizing up and hand-sewing each piece. This is meant to be simple and fun, so lets enjoy it!
Materials:
- Paper (for patterning)
- Craft foam (for giving structure to the hat)
- Felt (optional, reinforces structure of hat)
- Hot glue gun
- Material of choice (approximately a 2x2 foot piece, just to be safe)
- Embellishments of choice
- Hair clips or attachments of choice
Step 1
Decide how big you want your top hat to be, or just wing it! You will need three pattern pieces: a rectangle that will be the "body" of the top hat, a circle that will cover the top of your hat, and a bigger circle for the brim of your hat.
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| Trim the top part down so it sits pretty on the body |
Step 2
Cut your pattern pieces out of craft foam. Use masking tape to tape your rectangle into a circular shape. For the brim of the hat, cut a hole into the middle of it approximately the size of the body of the hat, erring on the side of smaller. For extra stability on the brim, I cut out a second brim and hot glued the two pieces together. For extra stability in the body, I glued felt into it and re-taped it shut,
Step 3
Choose your fabric and start gluing! For the body, I started with a piece about an inch wider on each side, and folded it over on the inside.
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| This is using the original pattern piece so I didn't have to cut the hat apart again! |
I pinned it in place for the first couple inches, then slowly and carefully hot glued all the way around on the inside. When I reached the end, I folded the fabric over and glued it down.
This is the top circle. I glued it using what I dubbed the "glue, fold, and tuck method." Almost ran out of fabric at the end, but had just enough to cover it.
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| I don't know why I had that silver circle lol |
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| You'd never guess the bottom looks like a mess, right? |
For the brim, I just used the same method as above. Chances are, one side will end up prettier than the other, so at your discretion, use the pretty side for the side people will see (AKA the side that isn't against your head.)
Step 4
Hot glue that baby together!
Step 5
Embellish! I made a band using a pretty silky material, but just plain ribbon would work fine, or whatever you want. And yes, I sewed the band together, and sewed it to the hat because silk material and hot glue do not play well together. Learned that the hard way. For the extra stuff, I had some feathers laying around which I hot-glued on. I also dismantled some clearance-rack jewelry and hot-glued over the feathers. The lace around the bottom of the brim is from a dollar roll at Jo-Ann's.
Step 5
Attach attachments! I used some hair clips that I purchased at Jo-Ann's, but use whatever you want, be it a ribbon or stretchy cord or whatever. If you do use a clip of some sort, I would recommend securing it by gluing a piece of felt over it.
Step 6
Wear proudly! Enjoy!
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| oh lala! |
As usual, feel free to let me know if you enjoyed this. If you want to see something like this in the future, or have any suggestions for tutorials, just let me know! And you have any questions for me about this tutorial or my cosplays in general, you can ask me here or shoot me an e-mail at heartandsoulcosplay@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Alycia
