Designing Wide Brim Hats for the Kentucky Derby

If there is one thing that comes to mind when you talk about wide brim hats, it would definitely be the Kentucky Derby. During this enjoyable event in Kentucky, participants – mostly women and children – come up with their own creative designs for the derby hats that they would be sporting. These wide brim hats have become quite the trademark during the celebration of the Kentucky Derby – so much that if you hold a Derby-themed party, then it just would not be complete without these hats.

These hats have gone outside of the convention of just the Kentucky Derby. You can even see children sporting these derby hats during Halloween these days. And the great thing about these hats is that they are very easy to make. Parents can even make this a fun project that they can do with their children during Halloween, and even during the Kentucky Derby itself. Here are easy-to-follow instructions for this fun project that both parents and children can undertake.

Here are the materials that you will need for the project: a Kentucky Derby-style hat, some ribbon, a hot glue gun, several glue sticks, feathers, flowers, bows, and lace or veil. The lace or veil here can be used as optional accessories for your hat.

If you do not have a Kentucky Derby-style hat in your house, then go ahead and shop for one. You can easily shop for a wide brim hat for this – just make sure that the hat’s wide brim covers your face a little bit. Look for a hat that is a bit more flexible and has the ability to stay in place even if you bend it a bit. You might want to check the craft stores in your area if you are looking for a hat to fit your child’s head snugly.

Next, locate the portion where your hat meets the brim. Once you find this, wrap a piece of ribbon around this spot using your glue gun. Also, remember that the thickness of the ribbon here should be proportionate with the hat. The smaller the wide brim hats for smaller children, the thinner the ribbon should be.

Next, lay out all the feathers, bows, flowers, and other accessories you have for your hat. Start gluing them onto the hat one by one. Go for the larger items first and then just use the smaller ones to fill whatever gaps. It would be nice if you stick with a particular theme for the hat you’re designing. For instance, let’s say you have flowers for your theme. You could glue a large flower onto a particular side of the hat and then add small flowers around the large one to give accent to the hat. A good addition to this can be a feather or two as well.

However, if you choose to use feathers for wide brim hats, make sure to glue them last. Lay out all of the other accessories before you work on the feathers. This way, you are sure to avoid having your feathers stick out at weird angles.

Wide Brim Hats
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