How to Make Fabric Kid Party Hats Using a Sewing Machine
Choosing an offbeat party theme might impress your guests, but it can also make putting together the party a challenge, as most of the supplies probably won't come from the local party supply store. You can check the party hats off your list, however, with a little bit of fabric and some sewing. Fabric stores carry a wide variety of fabrics allowing you to construct your own hats to match your theme, whether it is something a little eccentric or more traditional.
Things You'll Need
- Poster board
- Compass
- Scissors
- 1/2 yard cotton fabric for every 3 hats
- Medium-weight fusible interfacing
- Press cloth or scrap of muslin
- Iron
- Tailor's chalk
- Sewing machine
- 1/4 inch elastic
- Stapler
- Ball fringe
- Hot glue gun
- Large craft pompom
Instructions
-
-
1
Draw a 10-inch circle on poster board using a compass. Cut out the circle, and fold it in quarters. Unfold the circle and cut out one quarter along the creases. This gives you the template for your hat.
-
2
Cut an 11-inch square of both fabric and fusible interfacing. Heat your iron to medium with the steam function on. Place the rough side of the interfacing against the wrong side of the fabric. Place a press cloth or scrap of muslin over the interfacing.
-
-
3
Press the iron down over one area of the fabric and interfacing, and hold it there for 15 seconds. Lift the iron straight up and press it down over another area of the piece. Keep doing this to finish pressing the piece to adhere the interfacing to the fabric. Let the piece cool completely.
-
4
Trace your poster board template on the interfacing side of the fabric using tailor's chalk. Cut the piece out with scissors.
-
5
Bring the straight edges of the interfaced fabric together by rolling it into a cone with the right side of the fabric on the inside. Line up the two edges with the right sides of the fabric facing each other; don't flatten the entire cone, just enough to line up the edges.
-
6
Sew the straight edges together with a 1/2-inch seam allowance. Iron the seam allowance open the best you can without flattening the cone. Turn the cone right side out through the open end as gently as possible.
-
7
Fold the bottom edge of the cone to the inside 1/4 inch. Sew around the bottom edge with an 1/8-inch seam allowance.
-
8
Cut a 12-inch length of 1/4-inch-wide elastic. Staple one end of the elastic to the inside of the cone a quarter turn from the seam. Staple it so the flat side of the staple is on the inside of the cone. Staple the other end of the elastic on the opposite side of the cone the same way. This gives the hat a strap to keep it on your head.
-
9
Cut a 22 13/8-inch-long piece of ball fringe. Attach the tape of the fringe around the bottom of the hat on the outside using hot glue. The fringe will hide the staples from the elastic.
-
10
Use a dot of hot glue to attach a large craft pompom to the tip of the hat to finish it.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Use fabric appliques or fabric paint to add numbers, letters or shapes to the fronts of the hats to make them even more personalized.
References
- 100+ No-sew Fabric Crafts for Kids; Mary Link; 2009
- The Complete Photo Guide to Sewing; Singer; 2009
