Spooky DIY Witch Hat

Is it too early to start crafting for Halloween? Absolutely not; in fact, you can begin crafting now to ensure that you're at your spookiest, come Hollow’s Eve.

Whether you’re out with your kids walking this year from door-to-door or if you’ll be waiting for trick-or-treaters at home, a simple costume craft can change your night. Any witch needs a pointy hat and this one, it tops.

Tools and Materials

The materials for this project are a little different than for most other plans. If this is your first costume-type project, you may need to invest in a few different notions, but don't be surprised if you do have these things just lying around.

Gather all of your materials:

• 1 yard of suitable material (crushed velvet, or alternative 4-way stretch fabric).
• 1 yard of craft felt or fusible interfacing
• 1 yard of lining fabric, something comfy.
• 16-gauge galvanized steel wire
• 1-inch - 3mm long curved noodle tube beads
• 2 yards of 1-inch bias tape.
• Wire Cutter
• Pearl or pipping foot attachment
• Crimping pliers (or flat nose pliers and a firm grip).

There are some liberties you can take here; for instance, if you have black felt, you may not need to line your hat. 

Finding a Pattern or Making Your Own

You can find a pattern online or make your own. If you want to make your own, you have a lot of opportunities to get creative. The instructions are elementary – first, measure your head, or your child's head.

Second, cut out a circle slightly smaller than the measurement for your head. Then add 4 to 6 inches depending on how wide you want the brim. Decide how tall you want your hat - the standard is about 12 inches tall.

Create a cone shape that is your desired height and spans out to slightly larger than the measurement for your head.  

If you feel confident with your sketching, then draw with a fabric pen or white pencil straight onto the fabric. Otherwise, lay out a few sheets of copy paper and go through a few trial sketches.

Step One: Sew the Crown of the Hat

Cut out the crown and flip it right sides together lengthwise and cut a stretch of interfacing or lining to match. Fuse the interface or stitching the lining into place. There's no fancy work here for a liner, sew the two together. 

Then, you’re going to finish the crown by pulling it into its cone shape. A single stitch down the side will do nicely with a 3/8-inch allowance, then flip the material. If you want to give more shape to your hat, you can use your fancy piping foot attachment and stitch wire into place here. To add your wire, sew your seam, then set your wire into place and stitch it in.

Step Two: Make Your Brim

Making your brim is the fun part. Make it big and bold, or traditionally subtle. First, cut your pieces out. You'll need to cut out the same pattern for the top fabric, interfacing, and lining.

Fuse the interfacing or felt fuse the felt to the brim. Then, pin the crown into the brim. The brim still needs a little more work, but pinning at this point is more comfortable than pinning it in later. 

Measure out your wire for your brim and cut it to the exact length, so there is no overlap. Then take your tube bead or your noodle bead and crimp it over the wire, so you have one complete circle.

Using a standard needle and thread, stitch over the wire, hopefully with about a 1/8-inch allowance. Take your bias tape and pin it in place around the wire. Your sewing machines standard foot just won’t cut it, throw on your pipping foot and sew your bias tape down over the wire.

Step Three: Finishing Your Witch Hat

Some patterns will call for you to line your hat separately. Feel free to follow the patterns you find online, but doing it this way is much more complex than necessary. However, it gives you a nice complete finished look on the inside of the hat. 

You'll want to attach your crown and brim now. After pinning, you may have seen the fabric overlap. Go through and with your fabric scissors, notch the fabric together every 1/3-inch. Then stab stitch through. Hats will help you hone your hand-stitching skills!

Now get to spooking!

And, if you are short on any supplies, GoldStar Tool has everything you need!