DIY Felt Hat Band

Womans felted hat with felt flowers on a hat band — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

Are you into repurposed fashion? I am in love with this growing trend in the fashion industry, and if you are too, this hat band makeover might be something you’ll want to add to your slow fashion DIY to-do list.

Hi, this is Lorrie Everitt from @makeandmerryco and I am so happy to share this DIY felt project with you. I simply removed the original hat band from one of my felt hats and replaced it with a felt hat band adorned with felt flowers, leaves, mini balls and hearts.

Supplies needed for The Felt Store's Felt Hat Band tutorial — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

Let’s gather our supplies and tools:

Optional:

  • DMC Pearl Cotton embroidery floss (#746) to add some embroidery details to the hat band
  • 7mm scallop edge scissors to add a decorative edge to the hat band

*Note: I used 100% wool felt to create my felt flowers and leaves. This project will also work with wool blend or acrylic craft felt.

You will also need to download the free template for the felt flower and leaf patterns.

Womans felted hat with felt flowers on a hat band and a free printed template — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

Let’s get started:

Print out the pattern template on standard 8.5 x 11-inch paper, size as is. Cut out the four pattern pieces so you can use them to cut the felt shapes by hand.

Step by step Simple 5 Petal Flower — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

Let’s make a simple five petal flower:

Step by step how to make a Simple 5 Petal Flower — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

  1. You will need the 5 Petal Flower pattern, petal (pink) felt and one mini cream wool felt ball for each flower. Cut the felt shape.
  2. Add a dab of hot glue to the centre of the flower shape, and
  3. Attach the mini wool felt ball. Hold in place until dry.

    How to make a simple fel flower — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

  4. Using your snips, cut the space between the petals so each felt petal is elongated and the petals separate just below the felt ball.
  5. Add two small dabs of glue to one of the petals as shown, pinch the petal to crease and tuck it into the bottom of the felt ball. Hold until the glue is dry.
  6. Repeat step 5 to shape all of the petals to finish.

Step by step Loopy Flower — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

Let’s make a cute loopy flower:

Step by step how to make a Loopy Flower — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

  1. You will need the Loopy Flower pattern and cream felt. Cut the felt shape.
  2. Fold the felt rectangle in half and glue together the two longer edges to form a tube.
  3. Hold edges together until the glue is dry.

    How to make a Loopy Felt Flower — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

  4. Using snips, cut tiny slits along the folded edge about ¼-inch from the glued edge to create a fringe.
    *Note: Do not cut the glued edge.
  5. Add a small bead of glue to the uncut edge of the felt and begin to roll the strip of fringed felt to form the centre of the flower.
  6. Continue to add glue along the edge of the strip and roll to complete the Loopy Flower.

Step by step Felt Leaves — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

Let’s make some leaves:

Step by step how to make felt leaves — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

  1. Use the two leave patterns and three colours of green felt to cut an assortment of basic leaf shapes.
  2. Add a small amount of glue to the flat bottom of the Leaf Two, and
  3. pinch as shown to give it shape.

    How to make Felt Leaves — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

  4. Add a longer length of glue to the centre of the Leaf One, and
  5. pinch as shown to bend and give the leaf a slight curved shape.
  6. I recommend that you start by making three leaves for every flower that you create.

How to make a felt band for hat — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

Let’s make the felt hat band and add all of the felt elements:

Step by step how to make a Felt Band for a Hat — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

    1. Measure your hat, just above the brim, to determine the length of felt you will need to make the hat band, and add ½-inch to the length so you can overlap the two ends. My hat band is ¾-inches wide and I used 7mm scalloped scissors to add a decorative detail to one edge.
      *Note: You can adjust the width of the band to whatever works for your hat.
    2. Optional: I sewed the two ends of the felt together to form a removable hat band. I wanted to give the felt a little texture, so I embroidered the bottom edge of the hat band using DMC Pearl Cotton embroidery floss in a colour to match the natural felt. Don’t want to sew the hat band? Simply glue the two ends of the felt together.
*Note: DO NOT glue the hat band to the hat.
  1. And now for the fun part, play around with the arrangement of the flowers, leaves, mini balls and hearts until you are pleased with how everything is going to come together on your hat. Once you are happy with the positioning, the final step is to glue all of the elements to the hat band. Be careful, you do not want to get any glue on the hat.

Design Details:

  • There’s no right or wrong as to how many flowers, leaves, mini balls and hearts to add to your hat band.
    • For reference: Mine contains six felt flowers, twenty-five leaves, three gold mini felt balls and three dusty pink felt hearts.
  • You can cover a quarter, half or all of the hat band with the felt elements.
  • Leaves are ideal for filling in spaces between the flowers, mini balls and hearts. I created three leaves for every flower to start off with and made more as needed.
  • The reason I didn’t glue the hat band or any of the felt elements to the hat was so I could easily slide the band around to position it where I wanted the floral elements to be.
  • The hat band can also be removed and replaced with a different one. Imagine creating different hat bands for the seasons, holidays or to match your wardrobe.
    • I plan to wear this hat on cool sunny days in February and March. And I’m already thinking about creating more hat bands with pastel-coloured flowers for Easter, and earth tone leaves for autumn, and another one with holly and berries for Christmas.

Womans felt hat with felt flowers worn outside in the winter — The Felt Store's DIY Felt Hat Band Tutorial by Lorrie Everitt of Make and Merry Co.

And that is it! I hope that this post inspires you to make one of these felt hat bands for yourself. If you do, I would love to see your finished project. Please tag @the_felt_store and myself at @makeandmerryco so we can see what you are creating.


2 comments


  • Sandra

    Loved this ! Thank you!


  • DONNA

    I THOUGHT THE TUTORIAL WAS TO INSTRUCT HOW TO MAKE THE HAT SHAPE FROM YOUR FELT. SO DISSAPPOINTED


Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.