Downton Abbey style hat in 20 minutes!

I was invited to a Downton Abbey party last night and of course,

I waited until the last minute to fancy up my hat! I wanted to add a flower but didn't have one. I've seen tutorials on handmade layered flowers before and luckily, I had all the supplies needed at hand.

Easy Peasy!

About 20 minutes later my hat was all dressed up

and ready for the party!

We watched one of the episodes on my friends huge theater screen - seriously, it was like being at the movies! And we drank tea...well...it may not have been tea in our cups...heehee!

I know there are a bazillion tutorials out there on how to make flowers but I'd like to show you how I made this one and also the hat band.

 

Supplies:
Hat - Mine is black felt with a small bow on the side.
Synthetic sheer fabric - Mine is a thrifted sheer curtain with embroidered designs on it.
Eyelash yarn
Scissors
Candle and a match to light it
Corsage pins
Stapler - Yes, I cheated...no sewing here....I was in a hurry after all! (Sewing it would probably be a better option if you have time.)

Step 1 - Cut a strip of fabric that is long enough to fit around the hat. I made the strip wide enough that it could have some gathers once applied to the hat. Also cut several circles in various sizes - I used seven for my flower. The circles do not need to be perfectly round. They do need to be slightly larger than you want the finished flower because they will shrink when heated over the candle.

Step 2 - Heat the edges of the strip and the circles over the lit candle. Be careful not to hold the fabric too closely or too long over the flame as it does melt quickly and will make holes. (My flower ended up with a couple of holes but they're tiny and I thought it added to the vintage look.)

Once done melting the edges, each layer of the flower should look like this.

Step 3 - To give each flower layer more character, carefully heat and melt it throughout the center area.

Once done they should look something like this. (There's the tiny hole I mentioned before.)

Step 4 - Cut five strips of the eyelash yarn about two or three inches wider than the largest flower layer.

Step 5 - Place four yarn strips between two of the largest flower layers.

Step 6 - Staple at the center making sure to catch the yarn.

Step 7 - Add the remaining flower layers. Crunch up the remaining piece of yarn and place at the center of the layers. Holding everything in place, staple through all the layers to secure.

Step 8 - Overlap the ends of the fabric strip and staple to secure.

Step 9 - Place the band around the hat. I tucked it under the bow.

Step 10 - Make some pleats in the fabric and secure in a few places on the hat with corsage pins.

Step 11 - Use three corsage pins to secure the flower into place over the stapled area of the band.

A couple more views of the hat.

 

My handmade polymer clay cameo necklace was the

perfect piece of jewelry to finish off my outfit.

 

You can find my step by step tutorial on how to make

your own polymer clay cameo here.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

  
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