Mad Hatter Hat Tutorial, say that three times fast! It’s nearly impossible to have a Mad Hatter without the hat! That would be, well, mad. Making one is quite easy, though. You can take a hat that you already have and adapt it, as I did, or you could even create your own top hat (future tutorial, hint, hint) and add the necessary accessories. Here’s what you’ll need:
Supplies:
- Hat (black top hat or even a velvet purple hat, which I just happened to have)
- A long strip of flowey fabric (I had a scrap of pink, so I went with it)
- wire hanger
- decorative shank button
- card stock paper printed with 10/6 on it
- scissors
- Wire Cutter
- lighter
- hot glue
Step 1: The Strip of Fabric
Begin by cutting a long strip of fabric long enough that it will tie around the base of the hat and both ends dangle down about 6″-8″. The knot will be off to one side near the back of the hat. Don’t hot glue it in place just yet.
Step 2: The Hairpin
Next, cut a straight length of wire from the wire hanger. The wire should be long enough to stand a couple of inches above the top of the hat when the bottom of the wire is sitting against the base of the hat. This length was just my preference; of course, you might want your hairpins to be shorter. Apply a dab of glue on one end of the wire and slip the shank of the button around the tip allowing the hot glue to fill up the hole/shank, thus holding the button in place. Now hot glue the bottom of the wire in place behind the strip of fabric, allowing the hot glue to also hold the strip of fabric in place. Next, place a couple more dots of hot glue 2″ and 4″ up the wire to hold it in place on the hat. If you want, you could create more than one hair pin, using a variety of shank buttons to add interest.
Step 3: The Tag
Using cream colored card stock paper, I typed 10/6, indicative of what would have been the original price of the hat (ten shillings and six pence) and printed it.. I used the font Curlz MT in a font size of 100. Then I cut it out, roughly in shape of an isosceles trapezoid, except with rounded edges (It kind of resembles a tooth.). Then, in a well ventilated area, I burned the edges of the paper a little bit at a time, just barely catching the edge on fire before blowing it out. Obviously, be careful not to burn yourself. You could even hold the paper with a pair of pliers as an added precaution. Once I was done and it was cooled off, I used my fingers to rub off any remaining ashes. Finally, I hot glued the card stock into place just over the hairpins, which also helped to hide where I secured them further up the hat. This being the last step, you could go ahead and add a few dabs of hot glue under the strip of fabric to hold it in place.
In Conclusion
Not only was creating the Mad Hatter Hat really simple and quick, it effectively effectively helped to make the character come to life. It’s another item that people request to borrow often.
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