henry happened: wear | Derby (or Royal Wedding) Hat Tutorial

If you live anywhere near Louisville, you know Derby talk is heating up. Hats, horses, mint juleps are everywhere! This year I decided I needed a marvelous hat even though I'm not actually going to the Derby (sigh). And major bonus: I can sit and watch the royal wedding in style.

Really big bodacious Derby hats easily pass the $200 mark. The hat I was inspired by was going for $240. Yikes! So I got supplies and created my own! Ok, I got carried away and made 3 but we'll start with the first and most flamboyant. :)

I started with this $8 hat from Wal-Mart.

And added a selection of feathers that cost about $40. The 5 feather bunches were $6 to $8 each. And the 3 peacocks were $2 each. (Outside of Louisville I'm sure this would be cheaper.)

I got a small styrofoam ball and painted it black to hide in the black hat.

Then I started sticking in the feathers! Running your fingers up the length of the feather will help it open up. Play with the placement a little bit before you hot glue the feathers into the ball.

After several minutes of staring in the mirror to figure out where to place the feathers, I cut the ball on an angle and hot glued it to the hat.

A last minute addition of the long brown feathers at the bottom helped hide the styrofoam ball. I love it. I may be doing the housework in this tomorrow.