How to Make a Custom Boutique Birthday Hat
Custom-designed boutique style birthday hats are made especially for young children to wear during their birthday celebrations. The hat can cost from about $25 to $50 and your child will wear it for only one day, but you can make one that's tailor-made for your child and will serve as a keepsake of a special milestone. When it's finished, your hat will look like an extremely fashionable version of a traditional cone-shaped birthday hat: It will be made out of taffeta with decorative garlands around the base and at the top. It will also have your child's name and age spelled out with decorative materials. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Tape measure
- Taffeta
- Scissors
- Pins
- Needle and thread
- Fabric stiffener
- Garland: feathers, pom-poms, flowers
- Hot glue gun
- Rhinestones or buttons
- Large sequins or flat beads
- Soft elastic
- Stapler
Instructions
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1
Measure the circumference of your child's head. Cut a width of taffeta to that measurement and make it 6 to 7 inches long in a cone shape.
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2
Fold the cone in half inside out and evaluate its size and shape. Make any necessary changes or adjustments. Insert four pins along the open side, pinning it together.
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3
Sew the open side together, making small, tight stitches. Remove the pins.
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4
Turn the cone right side out and hold it upside down so that the cone is completely three-dimensional and rounded in all the places it should be. It should have no flat spots. Spray the cone with fabric stiffener until it is well covered.
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5
Hold the cone upside down as the fabric stiffener works. The fabric should be completely stiff in five to seven minutes, depending on the brand of stiffener that you use. Gently press a fingernail against the fabric to check how firm it is in five to six minutes.
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6
Cut a feather garland the same circumference of the hat. Alternatively, you can use a garland of pom-poms or a garland of puffy fabric flowers, whatever you or your child likes.
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7
Line the circumference of the bottom of the hat with a thin line of hot glue. Apply your garland around the base of the hat, securing it to the hot glue. Allow it to dry.
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8
Cut a small, puffy piece of the garland and glue it to the very top point of the hat.
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9
Write the first letter of your child's name in hot glue on the lower portion of the hat. Add rhinestones of any color you like to the hot glue. Repeat the glue and rhinestones treatment a letter at a time until you have spelled out your child's name. For a boy, if you'd like something less flashy, you can use brightly colored buttons.
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10
Write out in hot glue a large number symbolizing the age your child will be above the name in front so that it covers the bulk of the hat. Place large sequins on top of the hot glue until you have represented the number. For a boy, use flat beads in the shapes of cars or trucks.
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11
Place the hat gently on your child's head. Measure from the bottom of the right side of the hat, just above the ear, to the same place on the left side of the hat. Cut a piece of soft elastic this same size. The elastic will work as a chin strap for the hat.
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12
Staple one end of the elastic to the bottom right side of the hat and the other end of the elastic to the same place on the other side.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit child"s birthday image by Katrina Miller from Fotolia.com
