The calendar says Springtime is here and the Easter Hat Parade was on the schedule, so I needed to do something fun for the day. This would be our first time to do this event, so I really had no idea what it was all about. The only thing I knew was that a hat was in order, and I wanted it to be light and floral.
A recent thrift store find, this one had been wrapped with surgical gauze (yes, it was awful!) and had a couple of leaves stuck on the back. I look for things like this, the only important things were that the hat fit well and was in good shape. The trims were very well glued with hot glue, and would not come off easily.
I used an embossing heat gun (affiliate link) that blows air hotter than a standard hair dryer. Mostly I use this for card making, but it melts hot glue beautifully. Gentle tugging while pointing the heat at the glue, and it came away with little trouble and no damage to the hat.
I thought about spray painting the hat first, but the yellow paint I had left over from the Spring Chargers project was too much of a butter color, and not as bright as the yellow tulle I wanted to use.
The tulle was a better color match to the silk flowers, so I decided to leave the natural straw color. I laid out my spring floral sweater, and chose some flowers that would complement it in yellow, pink and periwinkle blue.
Wrap the tulle around the hat three or four times to be able to see the color, and secure with hot glue.
Tie a large bow, and glue to the center back. Begin placing silk flowers around the hat to determine the best placement.
Glue a rose and a hydrangea to the center of the bow.
Then, begin hot gluing the flowers around the brim.
Pink and yellow flowers are looking good, and I added a few leaves for contrast against all the pastels.
The leaves make it easier to see the lighter colors. Daisies are added too.
The bow needed just a bit more, so I added a few leaves and a pink flower.
All done. I used odd numbers of each element, five of each flower, five sets of leaves, and one bow.
I think it goes with my sweater pretty well.
This hat wasn’t grand enough for the Easter Hat Parade, but I’ll do something wild for next year.
I love hats, do you wear them?
Sharing
From My Carolina Home 
Your hat is beautiful…I only wish you had modeled it with your top and taken a picture!
It’s very pretty and looks like fun !! 🙂
Super cute hat — very spring like! I used to decorate/embellish hats for Derby Day several years ago. My husband doesn’t understand the thrill of Derby week… reading your post bought back fond memories! Have a great week!
Love your hat. I need a hat for my DAR tea and your suggestions will be helpful.
So cute. I made-over a thrift find straw hat for my granddaughter a few years ago.
I love love love the hat makeover. You are so talented, and if I wore that hat, I would be singing like Mary Poppins.
Kari @ Me and My Captain
You did a beautiful job on decorating your hat. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be worn or a craft at first when i saw your post–This reminds me when i used to decorate hats for an accent to wall ..in the days when mauve and blue were in and we all had “Home Interiors” to add to our wall accents. 🙂 The memories we have… 🙂
So pretty. Love the end result.
This is such a lovely hat. I think the addition of the yellow tulle really makes it special.
Really cute Carole, love the tuille!
Loved your hat. I live in hopes that I will find more reasonably priced straw hats; the ones made in China are all too small for my fat head! Granddaughter has it, too! I love straw hats for wall/door accents. Haven’t tried using tulle; have bot it for ballerina skirts for the grands’ dolls so I have some handy! One year we conspired to all wear hats to our tiny country Baptist church one week to mess with our pastor’s head; it worked! It was fun!
This is so pretty, Carole! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm–pinned!
Your hat decorating is great. It is very spring and Easter like.