Home » DIY Tutorials » DIY Costumes » DIY Fabric Top Hat…with free pattern

DIY Fabric Top Hat…with free pattern

March 7, 2016 - By Crystal 15 Comments

Today’s contributor is Crystal from Stitched By Crystal. All posts written by Crystal for Make It and Love It can be found HERE.

. . . . .

Hello Make it & Love it readers! Crystal here, from Stitched by Crystal, with a fun St. Patrick’s day accessory…an easy leprechaun hat! This DIY top hat is so easy to make, you can whip up a few before St. Paddy’s days rolls around next week!

DIY Fabric Top Hat...with free pattern | via Make It and Love It

Are you still looking for the perfect green ‘something’ to wear next week so you don’t get pinched? This felt hat can be made in three different sizes: size small fits up to 20” heads (it is a perfect fit for my 3 year old), the medium is good for 21” heads (like my 5 year old’s larger than average head) and the size large will fit up to 22” so teens and adults can fit in that one!

Do your kids love dress up? Mine do! And they are loving this big green top hat! It will be the perfect accent to their green outfits for St. Patrick’s day, and I know it will continue to get tons of use all year in our costume box!

Plus, this pattern works for all your top hat needs just by changing up the color! Looking for pilgrim hats at Thanksgiving? Need an Abe Lincoln hat for the school play? Dressing up as the Mad Hatter this Halloween? Or does your snowman needs a top hat next winter?

Want to make a big green top hat? Great! Let me show you how!

You will need…

½ yard of green felt
1/8 yard of black felt
Small scrap of yellow felt
Top hat pattern you can find and print HERE
Basic sewing supplies (here’s a list of common sewing supplies, in case you need a few ideas)

***As always, if you need a bit of help with the basic sewing skills used in this tutorial, don’t hesitate to check out the Sewing 101 post for more help.

Print the pattern and use the pieces to cut out your felt for the top and brim of the hat. The pattern pieces have two fold lines (so I could squeeze them in on one sheet of paper), you can either fold your felt twice and align both fold lines on a fold before cutting OR you may find it easier to print the pattern twice and tape to identical pieces together as shown below, then you only have to worry about one fold. You will need one top piece and 2 brims.

You also need a rectangular piece of green felt, a black belt, and a yellow buckle piece. Use the chart below for cutting dimensions for those pieces.

	Hat Sides (green felt)	Belt (black felt)	Buckle (yellow felt)
Small	6” x 21”	1.5” x 21”	2.5” x 3”
Medium	6” x 22”	1.5” x 22”
Large	6” x 23”	1.5” x 23”

Prepare the belt and buckle by cutting two 1.5” slits in the buckle as shown below. You can curve the corners of the buckle like I did, or leave them square if you like that look.

Place the belt through the slits cut in the buckle and position the buckle in the middle of the belt. Place the belt about 1” from the bottom of the green rectangle and baste it in place at the ends of the belt.

Fold the hat right sides together and sew up the short sides of the hat with a ½” seam allowance.

Pin the top of the hat in place and sew it on the hat with a ½” seam allowance.

Place your 2 brim pieces right sides together and sew all the way around the outside of the brim with a ½” seam allowance. Then trim the seam allowance to ¼” and flip the hat brim right side out. Top stitch around the outside edge.