Dickens Fair Hat from Dollar Store parts
How-To, Teaching

Costume Class Project: Dollar Store Witch Hat to Early Victorian Bonnet

What you will need for this project

  • Velour Witch Hat in Adult Size
  • Recycled plastic tub for frozen strawberries, cottage cheese, or other tub about 5″-6″ across the mouth.
  • Hot Glue Gun and Glue
  • Scissors
  • Artificial Flowers
  • Trim of lace or braid
  • Black thread & Needle
  • Spool of Wired Ribbon
  • Plastic hair comb
  • Fruit Bag net that looks like hat netting

Step 1: Check to see if the hat is in fact adult sized in the head…

 

 

Step 2: Then try to remove the headband without damage to the hat.

 

 

You may be able to remove the hat band and buckle by simply cutting it off where it is sewn into the seam at the center back of the crown.

Step 3: Find your flexible plastic tub that might be cut into a ring.

 

 
Cut out a ring from the used container:
 
 

Step 4: Turn the hat inside out, and put the ring on the inside as far as it fit down.

Flip the hat around the ring as shown.

Sew the ring into place by hand as shown:

Pull together the remains of the tip of the hat inside into a bunch:

  
 

Sew it in place, through the tip.

Cut the tip off inside the hat.

 

This makes a top of the hat look more like a bonnet back as you can see:

At the center back seam line, pin the brim edge up to the base of the crown.
 
Prepare the brim fabric for sewing by crimping it into a simple gather with your thumb.

Sew the brim with the gathers to the back seam of the crown.

If you have one, put the hat on a head form… (or your head if you do not)

…and force the wire of the brim into a sharper bend, to force the sides of the brim forward slightly.

If the old hat had a buckle, take the buckle off of the hatband, and pair it with some wired ribbon.

One yard of ribbon may be put into the buckle to make a large bow for the back of the hat.

Use another yard and a half of ribbon to form a hatband and chin tie.

Pull the wire in the ribbon to let the parts of the ribbon going round the crown to fit better against the conical shape of the sides.

  

Take your now curved ribbon and pin it to the sides.

Pin the bow in place at the back where the vestiges of the old hatband marked the back seam.

Then sew ribbons and buckle by hand, or hot glue it.

  

Sew the plastic comb into the front of the crown to keep the bonnet from flopping back as they tend to do.
 
 

Then take your lace and/or trim…

Iron it into a curve…

I

..and pin the lace around the center hole of the underside of the brim.

 

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Hot glue  (or hand stitch) sections of the lace to the center edge. I recommend using dollar store latex palmed work gloves or garden gloves when using hot glue, especially high temperature types.

Repeat this process out at the edge of the brim with the tips of the lace.

 

Pick out some artificial flowers for decoration. Disassemble them for parts and glue them to the inside of the brim in an asymmetrical but balanced style:

 Here you can see how this looks when worn.

This is a side view of the hat at this point.

If you can find an appropriate color of fruit bag netting to be “hat netting” attach this as well.

Glue it onto the brim.

Add more artificial flower bits to the back of the hat with more glue.

 
 

 These images show the finished hat from the rear.

  

And here it is from the front, as worn, showing the Tangerine bag netting on the brim.