11/08/2017

Derby Worthy Cowboy Hat

by Heather on 11/08/2017

When the County Fair theme was decided on for Gold Cup, I knew that I wanted to make a Derby-inspired cowboy hat.

The first step was to find a cowboy hat that wasn't too expensive, in case I screwed it up. Amazon to the rescue! I found this hat {HERE} and it was perfect.

So after ordering the hat, it was time to take advantage of the massive sale at Michael's. All of their fall foliage was 70% off! Sweet! Now, what to do?

I turned to the internet and did some searches, but a lot of the derby hat styles are similar. I wanted something a little fun, but still nice looking. Etsy ended up being a great source of inspiration.

This hat, in particular, I really loved.

Day of the Dead Mini Top Hat from Little Miss Hattitude

I love how colorful and fun this hat is, and so with this inspiration knocking around my head, I bought a bunch of stuff from Michael's. I hoped that I would throw everything I'd bought at it and something would stick.

I ended up spending about ~$40 on the supplies for the hat, and thankfully everything I bought made the cut. I had one golden fern bunch, a variegated green daisy bunch, a large purple peony bunch, a feather pick, 2 bundles of pretty teal/green feathers, and a whole bunch of hope. I managed to find the balsa wood horseshoes at Jo-Ann's in Culpeper.

I separated all of the fern leaves and started at the back of my hat. I wanted to great the look of a plume of feathers, but with ferns, so I created a waterfall effect of ferns by placing the shortest ferns at the base of the back of the hat, right against the brim and working towards the crown of the hat, using the longest ferns at the very top. I shaped each of the leaves to gently curve down. There may have been some glue gun burns and I may have glued one or two of my fingers to my hat.

So after getting my waterfall of ferns attached it was time to start with the purple peonies. I placed a row of peonies along the brim of the hat, forming a U-shape around the sides and back of the hat, and then I added a few more peonies to the left side of the hat, to create a nice asymmetrical look. I added a few up the crown of the hat on this side for more interest. Then I went back and filled in with the daisies. I created a small crown of daisies at the back of the crown, also hiding the base of the ferns a bit, and filling in where I thought there were holes. The feathers were next. I placed the pick of feathers towards the front of the hat to accent where the horseshoes were going to go, and then I gently glued each of the individual feathers into the fern waterfall, adding color, texture, and interest.

The final step of the hat was to add the horseshoes after my eldest and I had fun coloring them with some metallic wax, I glued them a little off kilter to each other. I was a little inspired by the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.

So that's how my hat came to be, and this little dear won best "Race-Inspired Hat" in the hat contest! Yay!