I’m so sorry I didn’t get your comments answered yesterday. My day was just too full and I really wanted to have something done on the hat to show you. It took much longer than I though it would…
I guess you could say Tuesdays post (HERE) was Part 1 of making this hat and today will be Part 2. I didn’t remember that I had baked the Sculpey clay hat mold that I made for Noel a while back. When I checked my post on how I did it, there it was plain as day… I baked it! So Tuesday morning I took my wet clay and propped it up with spoons and glass bowls on a baking sheet and proceeded to put it in the oven. 275 degrees for about 10 minutes.
When it came out it was decent enough to use. There was one crack in one side of it, but it held together enough for me to see if it would work.
Okay, so this will be sort of a mini tutorial on the steps for making a straw hat. I have narrowed it down to 26 pictures, and that was a bare minimum I felt I could use to show you everything.
Once the mold has cooled off, you can begin by putting very thin double sided tape on the edges of the hat about every inch or so…
Use a pin to peel off the paper…
Beginning in the back of your hat mold, take your flexible braid and stick it to the edge of the tape leaving a tail sticking up… (so you don’t have a raw edge on the back.)
You need to use a Tacky Glue like Aleene’s…
…and make small dots of glue on the inside edge of the rows… overlapping them just a little bit…
…pushing each row down with your fingernail…
I usually do a section of glue about 4 inches or so at a time… and you just keep going round and round and round…
Going up the crown can be a little tricky… just make sure you overlap and you’ll be fine…
It’s just a matter of going around each row until you get to the very top of the hat… Then you have to take a pin and insert it between the braid weaves and find a cotton thread that you’ll have to pull to get the braid to curve on the smaller circles you’ll be making on the crown of the hat… Pull the thread and it will curl enough to glue down.
When you have that thread pulled up, just place your rows on top of it…and glue it down…
When you get close enough to the top of the hat, you can cut your braid, leaving enough to go around a few more times. Pull the thread from the end this time and it will curl enough for you to finish the hat…
The top of your hat should look like this…
Now comes the scary part… you have to take it off the mold…and you’ll think it’s going to tear apart as you tug on it to get it off the mold… but it won’t.. They are pretty sturdy..
You almost have to turn it inside out to get it off the mold…
Ahhhhh… it’s off! It’s kind of like our floors that we put down called Loose Lay flooring. It hid a multitude of imperfections. My hat came out sort of the same way.. smooth on the outside compared to how lumpy the mold was… I was very pleased!
Now it’s time to finish the top… take that little thread and thread it through the hole in the top of your hat and pull it gently to the underside of the hat… till it looks like this…
Take a dab of glue and smash it down flat…
Turn the hat over and glue the braid piece down in the crown of the hat…
OH RATS…the same thing happened as what happened in my last hat.. my glue smushed out onto the back side of my hat, making it look sort of specked and spotted like. It’s not sticky at all, but it doesn’t look as neat and my Effner hats. I bought some new Tacky glue and I’m guessing I’ve cut too big of a hole in the tip… I need to make smaller dots of glue… I’ll probably line this hat now…
Oh well…Here is a look at the hat on Felicity.. IT FITS!!!
It’s got to be decorated and that will be fun!
So here’s “the skinny” on making this hat…
It took 19 and 1/2 yards of hat braid…. 2 hours or so to make the mold… 3 hours to glue the braid to the mold… and I’ve not even done yet… I might have to charge $300 for this set! (Just kidding…) :o)
I may NEVER make one of these again… :o( :o) Who knows…
Well, that’s my quick tutorial on making hats on a home made Sculpey mold…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
It’s lovely! I do hope you make more hats. I think they are quite nice and a very special accessory to your outfits.
Thank you for the tutorial. You make it seem doable.
Hope you have a nice day.
Take care.
HI Charlotte,
I’m pretty sure I’ll make more hats… I was just tired of doing THIS one! I’m glad you liked it and I hope I explained it well enough to understand.
Blessings, Jeanne
Loved this tutorial!
Thank you Linda Marie,
I’m so glad!
Blessings, Jeanne
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing your work of love. Can’t wait to see the completed outfit.
All the Best ~
HI Leigh,
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to see how it turns out either! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne
Beautiful hat and such a helpful tutorial. I think that hat form would make a great 60’s hat for Julie too. Now, on to the dress. 🙂
Having some hot weather here. Fortunately, the fires are pretty well contained. Just waiting for some more rain to get rid of the ash smell that is everywhere.
How is the cabinet search coming along?
Thanks Joy,
The hat probably would work for Julie…you’re right!
Yes, now onto the dress…hmmmm…. what to do…
Actually the cabinet search is in full swing. I spent the morning cutting out little pieces of paper the sizes of some cabinets about an hour and a half from here. They are a display unit and I’ve been trying to see if I can make their U shaped display work for my L shaped kitchen. It’s very overwhelming…that’s why I drew out on the pieces on graph paper and then drew out my kitchen layout… we have a few places where there is no room for error… like that cold air return… the cabinets can’t go past that and my kitchen window is bigger than most so it’s a bit difficult to find cabinets that will fit around it. Cindy has been helping me long distance again… :o)
I’ll keep you posted… and I sure hope you get your rain… we got some 2 nights ago…so hard it started dripping in my master bathroom… yikes… George went up on the roof to see if he could fix the area where it was leaking…
Blessings, Jeanne
Remember that large pan in the attic to catch drips. Works well until roof can be fixed.
Fascinating to learn how to make a more flexible hat. Amazed by the variety of skills and personal interest you bring to your doll creations.
I am definitely on a search for the Effanbee Katie “Mommy’s Garden Party” doll with the long reddish blonde/ brown hair I asked about. Did not have success in finding her in the usual places, so would love suggestions from others who follow this blog about where I might find her. It was love at first sight.
Judy Howard
howard.judith@icloud.com
HI Judy,
After I saw your longing for a Katie Mommy’s Garden Party doll, I too, went to Ebay in search of her… she was very popular a few years ago… possibly someone has one that they’d like to sell. I hope you find one because I know that feeling of yearning for a doll that is no where to be found…
Blessings, Jeanne
Fantastic tutorial, Jeanne. Thank you for your generosity in sharing the process.
I too look forward to seeing how this all comes out. Yes, it’s going to easily be worth $300 with labor, care, quality, experience, etc. I hope it sells for a worthy price.
Blessings
HI Becky,
Well, I can only dream of the $300, but last night I was serious! It seemed to be a never ending project!
Now to get started on the dress… and then I’ll decide how to decorate the hat…
Thank you very much for your kind words…
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne,
Loved this tutorial. I have always wanted to make a hat like this.
On the LD’s about how long does it take to make a hat?
I’m so glad you are feeling better.
Judi
HI Judi,
I’m glad you enjoyed the hat tutorial… It generally takes me about an hour to make the hat and a little longer to decorate it… It’s not a quick project but it’s not hard either… I do like making them…
Thank you so much,
Blessings, Jeanne
The hat was time consuming but at least you have to just do the hat next time. It’s just so classic! She is going to look so sophticated and pretty! Decorating it is going to be fun to watch!
I keep worrying about George…nothing yet? The waiting is trying…that’s for sure.
It’s Patti PlayPal this week in the Doll workroom…My customer that loves them had several that needed work…the real Ideal Patti’s are beautiful and one of them is a Shirley Temple version. She is really cute! They are so big I feel like I’m running a Pre-school here!
The hat tutorial was wonderful!
I was interested in your comment because I love my Playpal dolls. I’ve been sewing for mine this week, although I haven’t made a lot of progress. I washed and reset Penny’s hair and have a curly haired Patti that also needs a wash and reset as soon as I can get to it! The hair can be so time consuming.
Hi Carolyn,
I guess it really is PlayPal week!
Blessings, Jeanne
Thank you Kathie,
Well, I hope Felicity looks sophisticated when she’s all dressed up in her dress and hat…. that’s the plan!
The biopsy results will be in the 31st. We see the dr again that day. Waiting is the hardest part for me.
Make sure you send pics when the doll is all fixed and gorgeous! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne
Wow, that’s really labor intensive and quite tedious. Of course, it’s totally worth it when you end up with a custom hat for Felicity in such a pretty color!
Thank you Carolyn,
I hope I didn’t burn myself out on hats with this green one. I think I’ll make a smaller bonnet next time… the Effer hats don’t take much time at all, compared to this one…
Thanks,
Blessings, Jeanne