Sparkle Craft: Special Fabric Sun Hats
The weather is finally warming up all around our parts and just like the children in this week’s Martin & Sylvia: Saturdays! story "Silly Sunhats", we’re spending more and more time outdoors in the sun. This also means that we have pulled out our sun protection – sunscreen, sun shirts, but oh! After a whole year of growing we’ve found ourselves in the same predicament as Martin & Sylvia – we are all in need of new sun hats. So that’s just what we’re going to be making this week – our very own special sun hats!
Our special sun hats will be decorated with fabric scraps. These can come from many places – a pair of ripped jeans, an old tee shirt, a dress that’s too small, or a blanket that you no longer use. Remembering the story behind each scrap can be loads of fun in and of itself! People who sew clothes, quilts, or toys create lots of fabric scraps as they cut out the shape of whatever they are making. Do you know anyone who sews? You can ask them for a few of their fabric scraps – they will most likely be happy to share.
So get ready to make your very own special sun hat so you, too, are ready to get outside in the sun this spring and summer. Like Martin and Sylvia, we’re sure your hats will be beautiful, creative, and unique!
You Will Need
Newspaper
Tape
Fabric scraps
Sharp scissors
White glue or Mod Podge
Paintbrush
What To Do
Martin and Sylvia choose to use fabric hats to decorate – what fun! If you’d like, you can certainly use a fabric hat too – just follow along with Martin and Sylvia in choosing and dying your fabric (you’ll need a grown-up to help as well!) Once your fabric hat is ready, you can use a special glue called fabric glue to adhere your fabric scraps or whatever other decorations you’d like.
Make your newspaper bucket hat. Don’t have a fabric hat to use as a base? We didn’t either, so we’re making one out of newspaper! Use 2 full-sized pieces for extra strength and stability. Watch the video below to see how we folded our hats:
Here are the step-by-step instructions for folding your hat, these are best to read while you’re watching the video!
Step 1: First we fold!
Step 2: Fold your newspaper in half
Step 3: Fold down the top corners so that you leave a 5-6 inch straight space at the top (if you want your hat to be shorter than ours, leave more space at the top.)
Step 4: Flip your hat over and fold the top corners back the other direction
Step 5: Now open up each side and flip the triangles you’ve created into the side
Step 6: Hey, it’s looking more like a hat… a really big one! Now fold down a smaller triangle on each side of your hat, both front and back (that’s 4 in total!)
Step 7: Time to flip up your brim. This can be tricky, so don’t worry if your paper rips by accident
Step 8: Time for tape!
Step 9: Tape down the middle of your brim on both sides
Step 10: Now tape down the inside triangle part that you folded into the hat in step 3.
Step 11: Finally fold down one side and the other of the sides of your brim (the parts that look like wings right now!) and tape those down.
Step 12: There you go, a bucket hat ready to be decorated!!
Time to decorate. Get out all the fabric scraps you gathered earlier. You can cut out squares, strips, circles – anything you’d like from the scraps you have. We noticed pretty little flowers in a few of our fabric scraps so we cut those out – do you notice any special details in your fabric that you could cut out?
Paint glue onto the back of the fabric scrap and then press it onto your newspaper hat base. Continue gluing down fabric until your entire hat is covered and to your liking. Look – you’ve made a special sun hat of your own! Now you can put on your new hat and be protected from the sun!
Explore More
While your special fabric sun hat protects the top of your head, what can you add to your hat to be sure your face and neck are protected from the sun?
What else, besides fabric, can you add to your hat? Do you have any fabric paints, buttons, or other fancy bits you’d like to add? Give it a go!
Some sun hats have a strap that ties under your chin to keep your hat on your head on a windy day. Can you add a strap to your special sun hat?
Make Connections
Sylvia turns into “The Princess Porcupine Fairy” when she puts on her sun hat and Martin turns into “Sir Martin Light Speed – Space Knight!” with his hat on. How about you? What will you pretend to be with your special sun hat on? Will you have a special pretend name?
About the Authors
Andrea Folsom
Andrea Folsom describes herself as a writer, editor, creative maker, and eternal optimist. She is passionate about learning and sharing new creative techniques, making beautiful spaces, and talking about the social-emotional benefits of creativity and art. She runs Crafting Connections - a website providing inspiration, practical advice, and projects for creative families - with her close friend Danielle Reiner.
Danielle Reiner
Danielle Reiner describes herself as a creative, a maker, and a mama. At the heart of her story is creativity, though that hasn’t always been the case. She rediscovered her deeply hidden creativity early in adulthood – with a ball of yarn and a couple of knitting needles – and hasn't stopped since. Danielle also runs Crafting Connections - a website providing inspiration, practical advice, and projects for creative families - with her close friend Andrea Folsom.
