the cat in the hat mini hats

A couple of factors played into the lack of activity at the blog over the past couple of weeks. First, I was scrambling to finish up the last few costume projects before our preschool's all-parent production of The Cat in the Hat. A few late nights, some scavenging for materials, and a couple of re-dos later, and everything came together. It was a pretty amazing group of people who came together on the project.

Second, my computer died. Like, completely. I took it in with a blank white screen with only a gray apple in the middle, and when it came back to me a little over a week later, they'd replaced the hard drive and the logic board. Thankfully, luckily, magically, there was a week left on the AppleCare extended warranty the Mr. had the foresight to buy. A week later, and we'd have been paying out-of-pocket for the parts and repairs. And it would have cost about as much as I earned on Etsy this year. I feel really lucky.

Anyway, on to today's post.

Let's look at making some Cat in the Hat mini hat headbands!

You can use this idea for making any kind of mini top hat, really, just by changing the color of the stiffened felt and adding some embellishments. Here's what you need to know.

Materials for two hats:

1 12 x 18-inch piece of stiffened felt (also called Friendly Felt) in white or glittered white
2 9 x 12-inch pieces of regular red felt or glittered red felt
red and white thread
hot glue
2 red ribbon-covered headbands

For each hat, cut a piece of stiffened white felt that's 4 1/2 x 12 inches, and three red stripes that are approximately 1 x 12 inches. You'll also need a red circle that measures approximately 3-inches in diameter, and two stiffened white circles (not one red + one white, as photographed) measuring approximately 4 1/2 inches in diameter.

Arrange stripes as shown, then stitch in place using red thread.

Using the red circle as a guide, pin the striped felt into a tube that will use the red circle as a top. You can either pin it inside out to machine stitch and turn carefully right side out again, or you can pin right side out and hand stitch using a mattress or a slip stitch. Both ways will work.
 
After pressing that seam to make sure the tube retains its round shape, sew the red circle to the top using red thread to whip stitch it in place.

Center the hat's top on one of the white circles, then use red thread to whip stitch it in place.

Hot glue the hat to a headband, then cut slots on either end of the remaining white circle to accommodate the head band (as photographed).

Line the circle up with the underside of the hat and the headband, then hot glue in place. Make sure to use lots of glue on the headband, and a scant amount of glue on the white felt so that it doesn't leak through. Then whip stitch to the hat and you're done!

Use similar materials for Mad Hatter or steam punk style hats! Switch to black or brown felt and headbands, and add feathers, ribbons, and other embellishments. And then send me a link so I can see what you've made!

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these photos larger by clicking on them for more detail!

all-time top and bottom five posts -- part two

This is a continuation (two months later!) of part one from April, in which I did a quick run-down of my all-time top five blog posts. That post was easier to write, mostly, I suppose, because it's always easier to talk about things that can be considered successful (which here can mean "popular") than it is to talk about things that weren't as well liked. Which is why I don't talk much about junior high school, frankly. ;)

Here's the thing: most of my seldom-viewed posts come from a couple of years ago, before I was blogging regularly. I think that's the main reason they haven't been very far up on my "most-read" list. Here are a few of my favorites, then, from those tied for last place in terms of readership, together with what I would do differently were I to rewrite the blog post.

#1: Vintage Signs




I love going on trips to the Oregon coast and driving through all the towns along 101 (the Coast Highway). Some of the businesses have been there for decades and decades, and still have their original mid-century (or earlier) signage. And I love that. I love old typography and graphics and how they're married on the signs I photographed.

Unfortunately, a new blogger, I took the photos out the car window while stopped in traffic (so they're not awesome), and then made everything just too, too small. Which is a bummer, because that stuff really means something to me.


#2: A Trip to the Pumpkin Farm and Another Beautiful Thing

This should clearly have been two posts. I was really proud of the way those cedar shingles came out on the side of my backyard art studio, and if I'd taken the time to write a whole post about that, I would be a happy camper looking back on it now. It was a whole day (pre-baby) of me on a ladder. I was marking each of the edge shingles and passing them to my husband to cut, then hammer-tacking them onto the wall. And the effect was exactly the old craftsman look I wanted. It was great, and deserved its own post.

The pumpkin farm deserved its own post, too. The Mister and I started a tradition (probably eight years ago now) of going on a pumpkin patch hayride every October, something we never did as kids.

That year (2008) was a big one for our little two-person-family traditions since health-wise, the end of 2007 / beginning of 2008 had been rough for both of us. Times like that test your mettle as a couple; I think we were driven closer together through those experiences because we already thought of ourselves as a family.

Plus, pumpkins are big, beautiful, fat, happy orange things, and there should have been more photos that featured them.


#3: First Round is on Display!

This post features some of the projects I'd put up in my Etsy shop in the early spring that year. The projects and photography are among my favorites; I took a load of stuff to the coast with us and photographed them in the early morning, alone on miles of empty beach. The quality of light was perfect, and the storm-swept textures of the sand and driftwood make me happy to look at now.

The projects are some of my favorites, too. I'd love to do a DIY post on one of the bookbinding projects sometime soon. I really miss having the time to spend on bookbinding.


#4: Peter Pan-sies!

One of my two favorite poster design projects, ever. I really wish I'd spent a whole post talking about the design process a bit more, and showing the poster in various stages of design. Instead, this post is pretty short and the follow-up blog post showing the final poster (sans much of the color, at the director's request) is even shorter. In my defense, I was tackling about 50 other projects for Peter Pan at the time and also working full-time (as well as playing Nana in the play), so blogging didn't make my "high-priority" list.


#5: Desert Photography

I went to Arizona with the Mister not really expecting to find it as beautiful as I did. We were there for the wedding of an old friend of mine (someone I was very close to as a teenager) and to visit the desert where my husband grew up.

I'm from a place where everything is green and wet and I'm a big lover of the ocean, so my first visit to the desert was a revelation of sorts. So different from anything I am used to, but also lovely. Prickly and lovely. I did two posts chock full of photos, but sometimes, a little text is nice too.


And there you have 'em! Some of my favorite low-ranking posts. Take a look if you have a minute; I'd love to have some more people stop by and take a glance at my little world. So; what have you written or made that you want more people to take a look at? You can leave your (non-spam) links in the comments section below.

p.s. you can make these photos larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.