How to make a Barbie size (or bigger) doll's straw hat

Sorry about the photos, I did most of this at night.

The only thing you need to buy to make this is a bundle of hat straw. In the US you can order from The PNB Doll Company ($9 for a 10 yard bundle, 1/4" wide), in Europe from Gildebrief (19,90€ for a 10 meter bundle, 4,5 mm wide). The rest of the materials can be found in your home.

The particularity of this straw braid is that on each side, there is a string which you can pull in order to make the braid fit any curve. Here's a photo to illustrate what I mean.

Find a box or other cylindrical object with the desired diameter for your finished hat. Cut a circle in card stock of the same size, put it on top of the box, cover with plastic wrap and hold the film in place with an elastic. Glue a PET bottle cap of the same size as your doll's head in the center of the plastic wrap.

You can adapt this method to bigger dolls by using various kinds of plastic caps.

Cut a strip of double-sided tape, about 1/4 to 1/3" wide, and press it all around the outer edge of the film-covered card stock, so that it lays flat in a circle on the top of the box.

With a needle, pick up the string on the side of the straw braid which will be facing inside, and pull on it in order to make the braid fit the curve. Then press the first row of straw on top of the tape.

Next, pour white tacky glue into the corner of a small Ziploc bag, tie the corner tightly with a piece of string or wire, and cut a very tiny hole at the tip of the corner, so that you can press out a very small bead of glue while holding the corner of the bag with your fingers. Deposit a small amount of glue all around the inner edge of the first row.

Press the second row of braid over the first one, in a concentric circle, so that it overlaps about half the width of the braid. Continue in this way until you've reached the top of the cap. Don't forget to pull on the inner string when needed in order to make the braid fit the curves. As the circles become smaller and smaller you will need to pull more often on the string.

Each time you've securely glued in place a section of braid with the string pulled out, you can cut the string close to the edge of the braid just before glueing the next row over it.

When you reach the junction with the bottle cap, press the edge with your fingernails to make the braid follow the shape of your hat "mold".

To finish, when you only have a small hole left open at the very top, simply cut the braid, fold it over itself and glue it in the center.

Let dry overnight and remove from the mold. If you wish to decorate the brim, pick up one of the thick strands of straw in the braid, and pull on it. The braid will "gather" itself and look like ricrac.

Glue the straw ricrac all around the brim edge. Here's the finished hat seen from above.

And here's the hat seen from inside.

if you wish to shape the hat, place it on top of the PET bottle whose cap you used, with the cap on the bottle, secure it in the desired shape by taping a piece of string to the sides of the bottle, and steam the hat by holding it above a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Let dry.

Trim the hat according to your tastes. I wanted to keep this one relatively simple so for the inside I just glued ribbon trim all around the inner edge of the brim.

I glued ribbon around the crown and hid the junction with a small ribbon bow. At first I added a bunch of flowers on the side, but decided they didn't look good. It seems to me flowers look good on the side of a hat with a rounded top but not when the top is flat. Well, live and learn. I ripped the flowers off and in order to hide the glue stain where they had been glued a bigger ribbon bow. If you like you can also add ribbon ties glued either to the inside or the outside of the hat, tying either in front or in back.

Voilà! I hope someone will find this useful and if you try it, I'd love to see photos.

Update : here are photos of a hat the talented Diane made using this tutorial, and bigger objects to make her mold. Diane's doll has a head circumference of about 6-7 inches.

(photos posted with Diane's permission)

Comments

[koalajoe]

It's lovely! and great tutorial

[Barbara]

C'est superbe! Merciii pour le tuto.

[Genie]

Oooh, double-stick tape! And the straw ric-rac! I did not know either of those tricks. Thank you so much.
Genie

[Mandie]

This is a great tutorial, can't wait to have a go. Thanks for sharing. :)

[Blogamop]

What a lovely blog! And how generous of you to share your "tricks" with us! Thanks a lot.

[Lynn]

I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoy your blog. Thank you so much for sharing your work. Such inspiration!

[myra]

Thanks so much for the tutorial and link, I would love to try this!

[Thimbleanna]

Wow. Beeeaaautiful tutorial. Thanks for sharing. The little hats are so cute!

[Jennie]

That was fascinating. I love how the hat turned out, it is so pretty!
(The photos are really good, even if taken at night!)

[bittenbefore]

thanks for sharing!

[marmotte]

thanks for this explications (with photos, I understand !!!)
This doll is so pretty with her hat
Bravo for your creativity

[Bettsi]

Wonderful! Thank you so much!

[deb in atlanta]

What a great tutorial! I didn't realize it could be glued--I've only ever sewn hatstraw. Thanks a million. I want to try this now.

[Bauhausfrau]

Great tutorial, I've made straw hats for costumes for people but not dolls; I'll definitely try this, thanks!

[Doreen Frost]

This is so wonderful, thank you, I can't wait to make this :)

Doreen

[Debbie Gibson]

Have just made my first hat using you brilliant instructions - mine did not look quite as neat as yours but I have straw in many colours so hopefully will get better - love the red one you have pictured here - will try red once I have mastered this - huge thanks. Debbie

[Zone Henti]

mm.. luv it

[Алена]

Замечательный мастер класс по шляпкам! Спасибо! могу ли использовать фотографии в своем блоге с сылкой на автора?

[Florenceduloiret]

Bonjour, je viens vous complimenter sur votre travail, c'est très fin et très joli ! Bravo, vos chapeaux font envie, je suppose qu'en taille humaine c'est un peu plus de boulot ;-)
Avez vous déjà commandé chez Gildebrief ? Ils ne répondent pas à mes mails suite à la livraison d'un colis incomplet mais totalement encaissé et je m'inquiète de leur manque de réaction à mes messages... Le site semble pourtant sérieux, et j'aurais aimé avoir votre expérience....
Merci d'avance ;-)

[Mira]

Really impressive, I will definitely try to do it.
I sew barbie dolls outfit and found a great website you might want to look at if interested: www.missbcouture.com
cheers!

[Laura Larsen]

Wow! This is just what I was looking for! Thank you a million.

[Joan Kufskie]

I am so excited with these hat making directions. How much of the straw braid does it take to make a hat. I'm really eager to get started.

[Glenda Schaefer]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is a wonderful easy to understand tutorial. The hats are just beautiful! When I receive my hat straw, I will try it.
GS

[chantou]

joli chapeau et tres facile a realiser bravo

[LS, Calfiornia, USA]

This is really great! I'm going to attempt to make a hat soon.

Meanwhile, does anyone know where elastics with sharp brass ends made for 8" doll hats can be purchased? These were the ones that came on the hats in the 1950's and 60's, but I've seen them in longer length on Halloween masks recently. I wouldn't mind making my own if I knew where to get the brass findings.

If anyone knows of a supplier, please let me know. Thank you!