DIY Project: Felt Gnome Hats

Dydh da dhiworth Kernow!  (That means "hello from Cornwall" in the Cornish language.  We have a break between sightseeing, scrambling on the beach, and the festivities of the Lowender Peran festival, and I'm taking the time to write the first of the tutorials from the Gnome party.

A gnome-themed party needs gnome-themed hats, of course!

And happily, these darling hats are extremely easy to make.

How to Make Gnome Hats

• felt by the yard
• scissors
• measuring tape
• sewing machine, needle and thread, or glue

First, you need to cut the basic hat shape out of felt.  It will look like a triangle with a rounded bottom.   I measured the heads of my children and discovered that I wanted a roughly 20" circumfrence, so I cut my fabric 21" wide to allow for a seam allowance.  We have large heads in our family, so you may want to adjust the dimensions for your gnome.

Felt is great to work with.  Easy to cut into clean shapes, and no need to hem because it doesn't fray.  

Next, all you need to do is fold the felt triangle in half, and sew the straight edges together.

Turn the hat inside out, and voila, you have a gnome hat!  If sewing really isn't your thing, you could easily use fabric glue instead.  Or even staples.  Now that I think about it, staples would be awesome. 

I embellished the gnome hats for the gnome party by clipping on a simple flower hair clip.  Not only did it dress up the basic hat for the party, but it functioned as a favor the girls could enjoy after the celebration.

I'll be back with more tutorials as I can sneak more time from our anniversary trip fun!  Clearly we're having a great time, given the lack of posts this week.  ;-)