World book day - hat creation

The Pickle loves Pippi Longstocking! They can guarantee hours of filthy giggles, so naturally she is the first choice of costume for World Book Day. The outfit is pretty easy, a demon pinafore has been found on eBay and a few red patches need to be sew on and we are half way there. She wears odd stockings so I am cutting off the leg from a pair of grey school tights (the one with the whole in the knee, so no loss there) and the single leg tights will go over a pair of red and white striped tights.







Rather than an itchy wig I have orange hair spray and a few pipe cleaners to hand to get that characteristic look, then all we have to do is make the shoes. Rather than lending her big shoes that she will fall over I can just make a point from some soft foam sheet and tape it to her school shoes.





So far so easy, so time to go flying over the top and the excuse for a rough and ready hat tutorial (suitable only for fancy dress). Yes, Mr Nilsson must look cool!











Start by finding something that is roughly the right shape for the desired hat in my case a shallow plastic bowl, then tape it onto a wooden base and over with cling film.

















I had some hessian left over from another project to I cut out a few large circles and soaked them in some pva glue thinned slightly with a little water. (This is why this is for fancy dress only - but it is quicker than steaming smd stretching the material into submission).













Drape both layers over the base shape that you have created. Pop a few pin in to make sure that it stays in position. They slide in with a little encouragement under between the lip of the bowl and the wooden board. Then allow to dry, I put mine in a warm oven as it cooled down from some baking.











Once dry you can paint. Spray paint works best but I was doing this project from anything I could find around the house and it still worked well. Just to finish it off nicely when the paint was dry I ironed it all flat and neat using a tea towel to protect both the iron and the hat.











I could just have trimmed off the extra material, but I wanted a better finish so using a large stab stitch I finished the brim with a little white bias binding. Finally I stitched a thin ribbon around the crown. I pulled the ribbon taut as I went along, just sewing the hat into a more permanent shape, and added a little elastic to keep the hat on the monkey. Doesn't he look fine?


I hope I have inspired you to give it a go, there is still plenty of time before Friday. Xx