How to Make a Witch or Wizard Hat Part 2

Part one is HERE

Putting the hat together is fairly simple if you are careful.

Pin and Sew the stiffener to the wrong side of of the top of the hat. The seam should be less than 1/2 inch from the edge. This is to attach the stiffener to the fabric. At this point the top piece is flat with the stiffener sewn to the wrong side of the fabric. (If you are using iron-on all you need to do is iron the stiffener to the inside of the top.) On the photo I'm not showing the top as flat but it is not assembled yet. Only the stiffener is sewn on.

Trim the stiffener close to the seam.

Now pin and sew the top of the hat along the straight edge at the proper seam allowance of one half inch.

On the curved seam I had made a zigzag all along the edge because my fabric was fraying.

At the very tip don't sew right to the very top, instead make the end slightly blunt. Trim the very tip off. This will make a much sharper tip when you turn it out.

Carefully turn the top out. I used a chopstick to get the very tip turned out.

Check the fit. It should hang about 3/4 inches lower than you want the finished hat to be.

Turn out the brim and lay it flat.

You now want to iron the brim flat and the seam of the top part. Use a rolled up towel inside the top to help iron. Your seams should lie flat and there should be no pulling or bunching.

The next step is the most complicated of the whole project. Go slow and it will be fine.

Place the hat top on a table, then place the rim onto the hat top so that the top fits through the hole, don't push it all the way through.

You now need to carefully pin the brim including the pellon, to the top. You might have to pull back the bottom of the rim out of the way. In the photo I've pulled back the bottom of the rim so it's all bunched up at the top of the photo and out of the way of the pinning and sewing. The good side of the top will be facing (and be sewed to) the good side of the rim.

The bottom edge of the top will be even with the inside edge of the brim. Both edges will have been clipped all around to make it easier to fit and will have little tabs all around.

Take you time and if it does not match perfectly undo some and re distribute the fabric. If you have measured your pattern properly then it will fit. Read to the end so you understand better the whole process.

At this point you can either baste by hand removing the pins as you sew around, OR if you are comfortable sew with your sewing machine. IF you have basted first, check your seam first then sew with your sewing machine. Your seam allowance here is 3/4 inch. Go around slowly. Once you have sewn your top to the brim, check it. If it's good, go over again with another seam. This should be strong.

If your fabric is very thick, it will help to trim one seam a bit so that the thickness is not all in one spot. The top part of the brim with the pellon is the better choice to trim back a quarter inch.

Once the top of the rim is sewed to the top part of the hat, flatten back the brim if you had pulled it back to give you more working space, and fold the bottom edge of the brim under. Each little tab will fold back and be pinned. This will cover your top seam and make a nice clean edge.

Go around carefully and don't pull your fabric as you pin it. Everything should lie neatly and flat. Before you sew, put the hat on the table and check it is flat and not pulling.

The top seam is completely covered by the bottom of the brim and the little tabs have been folded back and pinned ready for sewing

Detail of the pinning. The edge of the fabric follows the upper seam.

It is possible to machine sew the lower seam by overstitching, it is easier to do by hand. Go around with strong thread and sew the bottom of the rim down.

If you wanted, you could prepare lining for the top of the hat by using your pattern and making another top of lining material. In that case it would be inserted before you pinned your bottom town. When you hand sewed the edge you would also sew in the lining. I did this for my Wizard hat because the fabric was very coarse and not pleasant to wear against the head. This hat is much softer and more comfortable and so gets no lining.

The wizard or witch hat now gets a final ironing. Pay particular attention to the area where the brim connects to the top. If you find that the hat is too floppy, wire can be inserted in the brim and up the side of the top to stiffen it further. It is also possible to use spray on starch to increase the stiffness of the hat.

The hat can be trimmed further with jewels, trim, flowing fabric, stars or LED lights.

Since I'm planning to use this hat for Halloween this year, I will add hair and decorations.

I used cheap extension hair in 2 colours that I blended together just to get better colour. I sewed little bunches all around.

I used sailmaking thread. It's really strong polyester thread. Button thread would work just fine. After all the hair was in I added a drop of crazy glue on each clump to keep the hair from falling out. If you do this be careful not to put too much and make a stiff scratchy spot.

Enjoy, and send me a photo if you make a Wizard or Witch hat.

Finally I decorated the hat using fake flowers and fruit. The decorations could have been more witch like. I wanted it to be sort of silly fall design.

I think I could have put a few fake rats or spiders and that would have been fun too.