What’s a Mad Hatter tea party without the iconic Mad Hatter hat? I wasn’t particularly anxious to find out, so I made one for each of the guests at my daughter’s party. I loved how they turned out, and as it turned out, they were super easy to make. In case you’re planning a similar party, or if you just want to rock the Mad Hatter’s style (I promise I won’t judge), I’m filling you in on the steps so that you can make your own quickly and easily.

Materials

• chipboard
• decorative cardstock
• glue gun
• spray adhesive
• Cricut
• 1- 1/2″ wired ribbon
• feathers
• 5/8″ gimp braid trim

The Mad Hatter Hat Pattern

The first step in making a Mad Hatter hat is to cut the chipboard panels that will create the hat’s structure. Download the hat brim and crown file  upload it to your Cricut Design Space. Next, insert the brim and crown file into a blank canvas. Using the layer menu on the righthand side of the page, select the two yellow circles and change their line types to score. Finally, select all of the lines and click the attach button in the lower righthand corner.

To begin cutting your file, click the Make It button in the upper-righthand corner. Turn the dial on the Cricut to chipboard and make sure that you have inserted your scoring stylus into clamp A. Next, place a sheet of chipboard on your standard cutting mat, load the mat and start cutting. When the Cricut completes the cut, unload the mat and place a sheet of your cardstock on the mat. Load the mat and turn the dial to the cardstock setting before you continue cutting. Repeat these steps with the side panel file. This file does not require any scoring, so you will not need to change the linetypes.

From 2D to 3D

Now that you have cut all of the pieces, it is time to begin to assemble the hat. Place your chipboard pieces on a sheet of newspaper and coat them with spray adhesive. The newspaper protects your work surface from the overspray. Trust me–you do not want to skip the newspaper! I may or may not have learned this the hard way.

Wait 30 seconds before applying the cardstock pieces to their chipboard counterparts. This delay allows the spray adhesive to become tacky and also prevents the wet glue from damaging the surface of your cardstock. When the pieces have dried, fold down the tabs on the crown and wrap the side panel around it, adhering it one tab at a time by applying hot glue to each tab. Next, fold the tabs on the brim up and place the side panel on top of the brim such that the tabs are inside the hat. Glue each tab to the side panel to attach the brim.

The Mad Hatter Millenary Is Open for Business!

It’s time to decorate your Mad Hatter hat! Cut 13 inches of ribbon and wrap it around the base of the hat, starting at the side seam. The edges of the ribbon will overlap slightly. Use a small dot of glue to attach the ribbon at this intersection. Cut 14 inches of the braided trim and glue it around the crown of the hat. Once again, the overlapped edges should align with your previous seams.

Now we’re going to create a tiered bow that will cover the seams. Cut 24 inches of the ribbon and fold it in half. Measure 3 inches from the folded edge and fold again. Lay the second folded edge on top of the first section so that they are stacked 1 inch apart. For the final tier, fold the ribbon 2 inches from the bottom and fold this section back toward the first two tiers. You should have 1 inch between each tier.