Monday, April 25, 2011

TUTORIAL - Make Marina's Bottlecap Hat

Yes you heard it right!
I made Marina's hat
from a bottle cap.
As I stated earlier it sits really
good on an average miniature dolls head. 
A china dolls head is much bigger so I was trying
to figure out a good size.
That's when I thought about a bottle cap.
However if I was going to make Marina
another hat I would definitely use a bigger bottle cap.
 
Marina's clothes are actually
made from a small baby's infant pair of pants.
I think they were size 6 months.
These pants were stretchy.
Stretchy gives a little, cotton does not give any.
So if you use
cotton then you must be kind of accurate when you cut.
This is what I like about stretch fabrics.
You don't have to be so precise
you can s t r e t c h  to fit! 
These little pants had the
cutest pink ruffle going around each edge of the leg.
Sorry
that I didn't snap a photo of them before I starting cutting.
I just didn't
think about it at the time.
The directions are long but simple.
 
 Only a few supplies are needed:
a bottle cap - see the size I used
stretchy fabric that has a ruffle already attached
some cotton batting or cotton balls unrolled
glue & toothpicks
ribbon
decorative flowers or other of your choice
 
 Directions:  Cut out 2 large circles & sit
the other piece of the fabric aside. Make sure these
circles are a lot larger than the bottle cap.

 
Make sure the bottle cap is cleaned & dry. Place the
bottle cap down on the wrong side of the fabric &
draw around it. This piece goes on the inside of the
bottle cap.
 
 Cut this piece out and sit aside.
 
 Double the cotton and mold it around the bottle cap
to fit. Now take the cotton back off and be sure to keep its
shape.
 
 Take your glue bottle and dump a massive amount of glue
on the top of the bottle cap. A little glue along the sides.

 
 Spread the glue evenly all around the bottle cap and on the
top with your finger with a toothpick.
Take your cotton shape and put it over the glue.
 
 It should look similar to this.
Be sure to shape it with your
fingers all around before you cut off any overlapping
pieces.
 
 This is what the bottle cap looks like from the inside with
the cotton glued on the outside.
 
 This is what the bottle cap looks like with the cotton
glued on the outside. The cotton is wrapped around the
bottle cap to soften its hard lines.
 
At this point, you should have these 3 pieces. Place
the large circle with its fabric right side down on the
table or other surface. The wrong side of the fabric
should be staring you in the face.
 
Now take the cotton wrapped bottle cap and put a lot of
glue on the inside. Spread the glue evenly on the bottom
and the sides with the toothpick. Then lay the bottle cap
in the middle of the large circle.
 
Now it doesn't matter how you do it - there's no right or
wrong way. Start putting the fabric on the inside, smash
it down on the sides into the glue.
Work the fabric all around
the sides until it is even & there aren't any wrinkles on the
outside of the bottle cap.
This will take you a few minutes or less.
 
 The bottle cap should look like this.
All of the inside is
smashed down really good.
Make sure the sides are stuck good.
If its too bulky you will have to pull up
the inside and  trim it off so it will lay as flat as possible.
Then smash it back down.
There still should be enough
glue for it to stick.
Now take that little round piece
and put it on top.
You don't want this piece too big. It
should fit just on the bottom.
So pick it back up and
trim it.
Check to make sure that it fits if it doesn't
and it is still too big.
Then trim it again.
Repeat until it fits.
 
 Now put some more glue inside and stick that little round
piece in.
Smash it down good and with your fingernail or
toothpick push the fabric edges down into the fabric so
as not to see much of that cut edge.
 
 Now this is what you want it to look like. You want it
to be as smooth as possible.
 
 Now you can cut the ruffle off of the pants. I didn't measure
I just cut off a long piece.
 
 Now you have to clean up the ruffle. If there is a seam
then cut it off.
 
 Now clean up the ruffle some more. Cut off all excess
fabric up to the seam so it looks like this.
 
 Now measure the ruffle around the bottle cap. Cut off
a little more that is needed just for good measure. Set the
rest aside.
 
 Now glue the ruffle seam on the inside of the bottle cap.
It will look something like this. Also glue the side seam
of the ruffle. Make sure that its stuck down good.
 
 This is what it should look like on the outside. Take
your ribbon & measure it around the bottle cap close
to the ruffle. Cut off a little bit more to overlap the
ribbon. Set the ribbon aside.
 
 Now put glue around the lower edge of the bottle cap
just above the brim as shown. Do not glob the glue.
Be sure that when you glue the ribbon onto the hat
to start the ribbon where the seam of the ruffle is.
Keep the ruffle seam and the ribbon seam matched up together.
 
 Here is the ribbon glued on. Now take 2 pieces of
ribbon about 2 inches long.
Cut the ends at an angle.
Put glue on the untangled ends.
 
 Apply one ribbon at an angle on the ribbon seam.
Apply the other ribbon on top of the ribbon and angle it.
It should look like this.
 
 Now glue down your flower or other trim.
If you
use a flower like this be sure to glue down the green
leaves.
Your ribbon and ruffle seam should be hidden.
ALL DONE! ISNT IT PRETTY!
Thank you for visiting me!
Hopblogger

5 comments:

  1. Muchisimas gracias por el tutorial, lo has explicado muy bien y ademas te ha quedado precioso.
    A mi seguramente no me quedara tan bien, soy un poco torpe para las agujas y el pegamento jejejeje
    besitos ascension

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice tutorial Connie, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hola Ascensión,
    Usted es bienvenido. Sé que usted dijo que usted no es tan bueno con las agujas. Sé que puedes hacerlo! Tómese su tiempo y asegúrese de entender todas las instrucciones antes de hacerlo. Trato de dar instrucciones claras para usted. Si necesita ayuda para que me haga saber.
    muchos abrazos para usted

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Cheryl,
    Thank you for the nice comment. I hope that you will give it a try sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  5. what a great tutorial, thank you very much

    ReplyDelete