A Beginner’s Guide to Making a Kentucky Derby Hat

Although the Derby is tomorrow, it’s not too late to make a very special hat.  Once you start thinking creatively, you’ll be able to make wonderful hats for any upcoming event with limited resources and limited funds.  I don’t have hundreds of dollars to be spending on a hat that I’ll wear once so I decided to create my own.  This was my very first attempt at creating a (somewhat) fancy hat and I’m quite proud of it.  I’ll definitely be making more of these in the future!

Handy helpers:

• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• A large mirror
• A clean space for assembling

Some ideas for materials:

• Fabric – satin, silk, tulle, ribbon, chenille, crinoline
• Feathers – peacock, dyed chicken
• Flowers – a single big bloom, many small blooms
• Paint – according to the morning news shows, a popular trend this year was two colors on one hat (for example: 1/3 white and 2/3 black or 1/2 and 1/2, not including the embellishments – similar to this one)

Step 1 – Get some inspiration and gather all materials.  Going to your local craft and fabric stores can help you get ideas too.

For inspiration, you can visit:

• Lady Diane Hats
• Bloomacious slide show
• Maggie Mae Hats
• Jill Henning Hats

Step 2 – Trim extras off the hat if needed.  Mine had “decorative” straps that hung off of it and a tag.

Step 3 – If you’re doing a band around the base of the hat, it helps to either wear the hat or have something wear it for you so that you have a steady work surface.  I rolled the fabric, wrapped it around my head and then knotted it once.  I took the hat off and placed a dab of hot glue under the knot and also on the opposite side of the hat to keep the band from slipping.

Step 4 – Now we have to hide that ugly knot!  This is the place for a cluster of flowers, a single large bloom, or a big bow.  I chose a single large bloom.  I purchased the stem and once home just plucked the bloom off.  I used hot glue to place it over the knot.

Step 5 – I really like the way the hat looks right now, but I think it needs a little something more.  I hot glued the ends of feathers and then placed 3 black ones behind the band by the flower.

Step 6 – You’re done!  Take a photo and then go show off!

This photo just doesn't do the hat justice!

Dollars and $ents:

Designer Kentucky Derby Hat – $100-$800+

My imitation hat:

• Hat – $7.00 at Walmart
• Fabric – $0.25 ($0.74 for 1/4 yard) at Walmart
• Flower – $2.00 at Dollar General
• Feathers – $0.34 ($2.74 for pkg of 24)
• TOTAL: $9.59 +tax

Update: My hat got a lot of compliments at the party on Saturday!  It cost under $10 and took less than 30 minutes of my time to create!