4th of July Topper!!!

Hey everyone! Occasionally I like to challenge myself.  Ever do that? I used to sew all the time in high school and made almost every shirt I owned back then, and several for friends, but after that I stopped sewing. Since Tim Holtz came out with Eclectic Elements Fabric, I've wanted to take it back up again, but time is always a factor. Recently, I had a day to do nothing but play, so I decided to challenge myself to not only sew, but to stitch something very difficult, A HAT!!! A challenge it certainly was, and it's far from perfect...so far...but I LOVE it, and am proud of myself for trying! I urge you as well, to try something new and challenging...it's very rewarding intrinsically.

This was so much fun to make in an afternoon! I will proudly were it every year on Patriotic occasions!

All I used was the fabric, scissors (Tim's new longer sheers.), crinoline to add stiffness between layers, a die, an iron, and the sewing machine. No glue, pattern, or measuring tape were involved. I just used my head to measure fabric.

I die cut the stars with Tim's Sizzix Stacked Stars Bigz Die, and sewed them on to the blue striped fabric.

I stitched the white newsprint and red striped fabric strips together, with crinoline on the back, before adding the blue letter block fabric to the back.

The top was a little hard to sew on the machine, and it's uneven, but it works. The crinoline really helps everything stand up well.

Here is where the trouble started...the brim. I wanted it to be really shaped and stiff, so I used a piece of chipboard between the layers of fabric.

After sewing around the outer edge of the circle, I cut the center out, added the chipboard, and cut slits to help the fabric fold back in on itself. I sewed this to the main part of the hat, but it came out a little wonky...okay, very wonky. It's only for fun though, so I don't mind that it is not perfect. It's perfectly okay to me!

I planned to not have any seams showing on the inside, but it didn't turn out that way. Oh well, I love it anyway!

 

And guess who stole it from me? The little one! He loved it, in fact, all the kids did! It turned out to be a big hit!

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Coats Eclectic Elements Documentation 12x12"	Tim Holtz Coats Eclectic Elements Melange 12x12"	Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements - 12x12 Labels 8 pc Crafting Pack	Cotton Crinoline	Tim Holtz Tonic Studios 9.5" Titanium Scissors
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Stacked Stars Bigz Die

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!