• Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Laura Ingalls Wilder
    • The Ingalls Family
    • The Historic Sites
    • The Books
    • The TV Show
    • The Mini-Series
    • The Musical
    • The Documentary
  • Lifestyle
    • Recipes
    • Crafting
    • Gardening
    • Family Fun
  • Learning
    • History
    • Recommended Reading
    • School House
  • Community
    • Share Your Story
    • Your Stories
    • Inspirations
    • Meet Our Contributors
  • Store
  • Search

Little House on the Prairie

Navigation
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Laura Ingalls Wilder
    • The Ingalls Family
    • The Historic Sites
    • The Books
    • The TV Show
    • The Mini-Series
    • The Musical
    • The Documentary
  • Lifestyle
    • Recipes
    • Crafting
    • Gardening
    • Family Fun
  • Learning
    • History
    • Recommended Reading
    • School House
  • Community
    • Share Your Story
    • Your Stories
    • Inspirations
    • Meet Our Contributors
  • Store
  • Search

Straw Hat Embellishments with Little House on the Prairie

October 1, 2015 By Vanessa Brady
This may contain affiliate links and we may receive a small commission on purchases.

“There were several beautiful hats, but Laura knew at once which one she wanted. It was a fine, cream-colored straw with a narrow brim, rolled narrower at the sides.”

These Happy Golden Years

A sturdy straw hat was an essential accessory to have on the prairie that could be as pretty as it was practical. With just a few supplies and a little bit of extra time, anyone can add some fun to their functional straw hat!

Creating a lovely, old-fashioned straw hat DIY

Materials needed to add embellishments to a straw hat:

  • Fabric
  • Straw Hat
  • Fabric Glue
  • Scissors
  • Button
  • Sewing Supplies

Creating a Fabric Flower Embellishment

Step One. Decide on the fabric you would like to use as a band or as a flower. You can either make both (as shown in my pictures) or just stick with one. Another pretty option is to group a handful of handmade flowers together on the straw brim!

Creating your hat's hatband to dress up your straw hat.

Step Two. To make the band, cut a 4″ wide strip of fabric long enough to go around the base of the hat. You could also leave the strip a bit longer so that the two tails hang off the edge of the hat. There really are so many ways to customize this tutorial! Take your newly cut strip and fold the long sides inward, pressing as you go with an iron. Apply fabric glue to the back and glue in place on the straw hat.

Starting the fabric strip for your flower embellishments for the straw hat dress-up

Step Three. To make the flower, cut a 3″ x 6″ piece of fabric. Fold 1/2″ inward on the ends to create a neat, folded edge as pictured. Then fold the fabric in half length-wise. Hand sew a loose stitch along the entire raw edge. Holding one end of the fabric and thread tight, pull the thread to bunch the fabric on the top side tighter together. This pulling action on one side will automatically create a flower shape.

Use a button to create the center of the flower embellishment. These Little House on the Prairie®fabrics are perfect for old-fashioned styled fashion embellishments.

Step 4. Sew the two ends together to secure a flower shape and use a button to finish the middle! Sew your fabric flower in place onto the fabric band or directly onto the hat if you’ve skipped the fabric hatband.

Adhere the flower embellishment directly to the hat or hatband. It's a little dressier than Ma Ingalls would have made but we think she would approve!

Hats were an important part of life during Laura’s lifetime.  In  These Happy Golden Years, Laura even called chapter 28, The Cream Colored Hat.

“There were several beautiful hats, but Laura knew at once which one she wanted. It was a fine, cream-colored straw with a narrow brim, rolled narrower at the sides. The brim in front came down over the middle of Laura’s forehead. Around the crown was a band of satin ribbon a little darker than the straw, and three ostrich tips stood straight up at the crown’s left side. They were shaded in color, from the light cream of the straw to slightly darker than the satin ribbon. The hat was held on the head by a fine, white silk elastic cord that scarcely showed because it fitted under the mass of Laura’s braided hair.”

We would love you to see pictures of your embellished straw hat.  Share them with us on your favorite social media channel using the hashtag #LittleHouseMoment

 

These Little House on the Prairie fabrics by Andover are perfect for creating your own #littlehousemoment

If you enjoy these old-fashioned activities you will love our free Little House on the Prairie newsletter with our latest DIYs and inspirations.

The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy Instagram profileMy Pinterest profile

Vanessa Brady

Vanessa Brady is the mother of two little boys and is an unabashed craft junkie. She is passionate about sewing, crafting, her children, and business. Find her original crafts at Tried and True blog.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy Instagram profileMy Pinterest profile

Latest posts by Vanessa Brady (see all)

  • Homemade Dipped Beeswax Candles - November 22, 2022
  • Making Homemade Butter With Kids - January 17, 2019
  • Covered Wagon DIY Inspired by Little House on the Prairie - September 11, 2017

Filed Under: Crafting, Lifestyle Tagged With: Andover Fabrics, Caroline Ingalls, DIY, fabric crafts, fashion, flower crafts, hat, Pioneer Living, Quilt fabric

« Little House on the Prairie Rhubarb Pie
My Little House Crafts Book Review »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Connect Facebook Pinterest Twitter YouTube Instagram

Little House on the Prairie Newsletter

Perfect ideas for any Little House fan!

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE® and associated character names, designs, images and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks owned and licensed by Friendly Family Productions, LLC. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2015-2022 Friendly Family Productions, LLC

Contributors | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Licensing | Newsletters