Feather Hat Makeover

Hats seem to be a ‘thing’ in fashion at the moment, especially when you look at some of Louis Vuitton’s ad campaigns (seriously, can those hats get any bigger?)

Inspired by this and a hat I saw in a fashion magazine, I customised one of my old hats with some bits and pieces I had in my stash!

The original hat (a charity shop purchase, naturally) had a wide brim and a fairly shallow bowl, almost what is known as a ‘floppy hat’ but with less flop!.

To change the shape and height of the hat, I cut a rectangle of fabric about 1.5x a loose measurement around the bowl, and just over twice what I wanted the new height to be.

I stitched the long edges together loosely and pressed the fabric slightly so that the seam was in the centre back. Then I put a widely-spaced running stitch through the centre in order to gather it.

I wrapped it around the hat and sewed the ends together (folding in the raw edges).

Then I stitched it to the brim, with a few stitches in the bowl to hold it better. 

I then put stitches in to hold the fabric together at the top of the hat and create more shape, and added a length of velvety ribbon around the centre, stitching it to the hat at the back.

All of this was done fairly carelessly, if I’m honest--I didn’t even use the ‘right’ side of the fabric! I wanted the hat to have a slouchy, uneven appearance. 

When it came to the feathers, first off I used a short off-cut from a cheap feather boa, which I had left over from a fancy dress costume. I stitched this on with the same level of care (hah!) as everything else, and then added the ostrich plume on top.

The plume is pretty old. Apparently it came from my grandma’s place and has some link to funerals. Cheerful, right?! It’s slightly damaged and a little faded but is far more luxurious than the modern one that I stuck in the back of the hat! 

Admittedly, the modern feather was chopped in half in attempt to make it look ‘fuller’. I hope to eventually replace this feather with a number of them as I think it will look nicer!

Sadly I haven’t had the chance to wear this hat out yet--the British weather has predictably turned very wet! 

Will be linking up to the parties listed at the bottom of the page!