The Costumer's Manifesto is written by Tara Maginnis, and proudly hosted by William Baker.

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Costume Design & Construction

Straw Braid Hat (3D+10C)

strawbraid1.jpg (38954 bytes) strawbraid4.jpg (25988 bytes)

Straw braid for making hats like those above may be obtained two ways, 1. Braid may be bought at some craft supply stores in large rolls, (see some of the kinds of braid to be found below),

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2. Braid may be unraveled from existing straw braid items like hats and or placemats, and reused. Braid is usually very lightly stitched together, so it can be pulled out of the existing straw hat/mat just by pulling out these light stitches.

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 Once you have the braid, you will want to work out a design and pattern for your hat before sewing the braid together.  Make a sketch of your planned hat, and then try making a 3-D version of your plan using poster board pieces and tape to be sure to get the size and shape right.  A hat like the one below uses a pattern similar to that used for the Edwardian hat out of Buckram, but the pieces of the hat are made by sewing the braid in a spiral, with a slight overlap, and zigzagging over the overlap with a long stitch. (See below). 

strawbraid1.jpg (38954 bytes) strawbraid2.jpg (84546 bytes) strawbraid3.jpg (78515 bytes)  

08.jpg (265167 bytes) 08_2.jpg (209428 bytes) 1 square = 1" (Ignore lining and covering  pieces).

strawbraid4.jpg (25988 bytes) strawbraid5.jpg (23336 bytes)  However by making different  sized or shaped pieces, you can configure different hat types.  Cut and tape the mock-up of the hat in the poster board to work out how you want the hat to look, pull it apart, and then copy the pieces in straw.  

In both the above shown cases, each of the three pieces are made separately on the sewing machine (they can also be done by hand), and then they are lashed together with hand sewing to make the finished hat.  

It is also possible, though more difficult, to make these hats as a single continuous spiral, which will make the hat have a more finished appearance up close.  

The hat can then be trimmed to taste with ribbons, flowers, etc.

When your piece is finished, photograph the hat on the person for whom it was made and post the photos as jpgs in your File folder at the class eGroup.  Post a message to the group letting everyone know you have posted these pictures so you can get feedback.

 
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The Costumer's Manifesto is proudly hosted by William Baker.

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This Page is part of The Costumer's Manifesto by Tara Maginnis, Ph.D.  Copyright 1996-2010.   You may print out any of these pages for non-profit educational use such as school papers, teacher handouts, or wall displays.  You may link to any page in my site.