How to Make a Mad Hatter Hat

If you are dressing up as the Mad Hatter for Halloween, you will need a Mad Hatter top hat to complete your costume. Because the Hatter’s appearance is so zany, a lot of people like to create their own Mad Hatter costumes. You have a lot of freedom to use your creativity to come up with the different pieces of attire that he wears.

While finding a coat or suit and other clothes shouldn’t be too difficult, the Hatter’s hat is the most difficult part of the costume. Creating a hat that is durable, stylish, and something that doesn’t look like it was made by a third grader can be a challenge. But check out this video for good instructions on making a Mad Hatter hat:

Here are the basic steps as described in the video:

• Piece of poster board that’s ten inches tall (that will be the height of the top hat)
• Make sure that when wrapped into a cylinder, it will fit on your head
• Make the cylinder and tape it in place
• Another piece of thicker cardboard that will be cut into a circle that has a 6-inch radius – this will create the top of the Mad Hatter hat that is wider than the bottom
• Use a glue gun for connecting the two cardboard pieces together
• Then hot glue material around the top of the hat, making sure you overlap the fabric once you go all the way around and glue it together
• Tuck the fabric into the inside of the hat, pull it tight, and glue it in place
• Take more fabric, draw a circle the size of the bottom of the hat, and then cut a hole in the middle of this circle
• Cut slits in the fabric out to the edge of the circle
• Take wire and wrap into a circle about 3 inches bigger than the circle you just drew
• Put the top of the hat on the circle with the slitted fabric. Glue the fabric with the slits into the inside of the top of the hat
• Then put the hat in the center of the wire, and then pull the outside of the fabric taught around the wire
• Pin the wire in place and then sew the fabric together. Cut excess fabric around the brim of the top hat
• Color or decorate the hat as you wish
• Make a sash (or ribbon) for the hat – you can make it salmon colored like the Hatter played by Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland
• Add the 10/6 tag, which will identify it as a Mad Hatter hat. Also add ostrich feathers and other decorations if desired

(These instructions probably will make much more sense if you watch the video too)

The video says the project is for people with an intermediate skill level, so making your own top hat could be a fun way for you to prepare for Halloween and add your own touch to your costume.
However, some people might prefer to save time and invest in a pre-made hat. Put the money you would have spent on materials toward the $25 or $30 a professionally constructed Mad Hatter top hat costs. You can still design the rest of the costume if you wish to add your own flavor to what you’ll wear for Halloween.

Please see our homepage for all of the Mad Hatter hat styles available.

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