A Quickie Holiday Hat

I decided to whip out a simple hat to go with my red and black plaid outfit which I would be wearing in a parade in two days.  I do have a hat to go with it, but its mostly black, and I wanted some color.

When we made our matching dresses, Val had taught me how to make what I call my "ridiculous hat", because its covered in boa and lace and is just - fun!  I took what Val taught me, and tweaked it with what I had laying around the house.

 

 The base Val and I used for our original hats was a piece of foam.  I didn't have any foam, so in my stash I found some quilt batting.  Using the ridiculous hat, I traced around the foam base on paper.  I used the paper as a rough pattern, and cut out 2 layers of quilt batting.

I did not worry about measuring anything or being too neat.  It all gets covered up in the end, and I was in a hurry!

Then I made a cover for the batting from two layers of burgundy cotton, and sewed around the edges, leaving the bottom edge open in the middle.
Again, I just eyeballed it, knowing it would be covered with trim.

  

I stuffed the batting in the opening, fluffed it up and whip stitched it closed. Then, I tried out the shape on a styrofoam head.  Next, I used this awesome faux wool wired ribbon to make ties, and sewed it to the two ends. 

 I pulled out some left over trims, and added a red and white lace around the edges, and some pom pom fringe around the face.  I also made a bow to attach to the back.  Its starting to look like a hat!

Next, I needed to fill in the middle.  I tried various holiday picks with small flowers, or pine needles and tiny pinecones, but it was just too busy.

I bought a quarter yard of red stretch velvet, and did 5 rows of gathering stitches.   I ruched it all up, and arranged it on top of the hat.   I cut off the excess, and hand stitched it down.

So that is my quick little Holiday Hat!