How to Cover a Wide Brim Hat With Lace

Delicate lace fabric can transform a simple straw hat.

Transform an ordinary wide brim hat into a feminine fashion accessory for a formal event or costume play. Adding lace to cover the entire hat requires just a few basic math calculations and a little sewing, which makes the project a good activity for beginner sewers. The lace is added to the hat in two sections; first it covers the brim and then the domed top, which allows you to use two different colored lace fabrics for a decorative contrast.

Things You'll Need

• Sewing tape measure
• String
• 2 pencils
• Lace fabric (about 1 1/2 yards for a medium-size hat)
• Fabric glue
• Straight pins
• Sewing needle
• Thread
• Elastic string
• Sewing bodkin

Instructions

1. Measure the circumference of the outside edge of the hat. Divide by 3.14. Divide this total by 2. The final answer gives you the radius you will need to cut the fabric.

2. Wrap a length of string around the top end of a pencil. Measure the distance of the radius along the string and tie another pencil to the string here. Hold one pencil in the center of the lace fabric and draw a circle with the other. You now have a circle on the lace equivalent to the circumference of the hat.

3. Measure the circumference of the inside of the brim. To do this, wrap the tape measure around the hat at the base of the domed top. Divide this number by 3.14 and then divide by 2 for the radius.

4. Wrap the string around the pencil again, measure the distance of the radius along the string and tie the other pencil to the string here. Hold one pencil in the center of the lace fabric again and draw a circle with the other. You have now drawn a ring shape.

5. Cut out the lace ring shape. Spread fabric glue on the brim of the hat and slide the ring over the domed top and onto the brim. Smooth out the lace and press firmly to adhere.

6. Lay another piece of lace fabric over the domed top of the hat. Smooth it down to the inner edge of the brim. Insert pins through the lace at the inner edge of the brim and cut about 1/2-inch beneath the pins.

7. Lay the rough lace circle on your work surface and fold over 1/2 inch of fabric all the way around the outer edge. Sew the fold in place with a straight stitch.

8. Measure around the inner edge of the brim and cut a piece of elastic about 2 inches shorter. Thread the elastic onto a sewing bodkin and slide it through the folded lace edge. Sew the ends together.

9. Slide the lace cap over the domed top of the hat, down to the inner edge of the brim.

References

• How to Make and Trim Your Own Hats -- A Vintage Instruction Guide for Making 1940s Hats; Vee Walker Powell; 2007
• Saturday Night Hat: Quick, Easy Hatmaking for the Downtown Girl; Eugenia Kim; 2006