Making My Holly Witch Hat

After last October when I posted my friend Sarah’s How to Make Your Very Own Fabulous Witch Hat, I made my own witch hat with fabric and craft remnants for my Loblolly Pine Witch costume. I had so much fun with it, I had to make more, this time for a winter witch. Here’s how I made mine, inspired by hers, and festive for the holidays. I’ve also shared a free downloadable pattern of my witch hats at the end of this post.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, Red Shoes. Red Wine. will earn a small commission for the referral at no cost to you.  Read more about affiliates & disclaimers here.  We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Evidently my witch hat making inspired friends on social media, and in turn inspired me to make more than just Halloween witch hats. So one morning while on a walk, I let nature, and my creative brain take over this project. I decided I’d make a witch for every season. While it rarely (if ever) freezes in Houston, I do remember one time in the 1990’s that rain had fallen pretty hard one night, froze, and the next morning everything was covered in ice. It was that memorable. So for my winter witch, my inspriation was red ice berries with a blue background.

[Related: Costuming a Loblolly Pine Witch]

• 

• 

• 

• 

I decided to make an overdress inspired by my McGonagall Yule Ball costume, and had the perfect shirt, belt, and skirt to wear underneath. This way I could focus on the overdress and hat. I am a curtain murderer/hoarder; this is pretty well known in my circle of friends. So I dove into my stash and pulled out red silk curtains a friend sent to me, and the extra slate blue curtain I bought for the house (for pillows I planned to make to match our living room curtains…spoiler alert: I totally didn’t make pillows). I also had leftover red felt from making my mom’s mushroom costume. This was a great start!

Materials Shopping List

This project used felt, curtains, and leftover notions/materials from prior projects. You may already have these things in your supplies cabinet. But if not, here are some of the materials I’ve previously purchased on Amazon.

<1 yard each for outside witch hat fabric and lining, optional contrasting fabric for hat tip

Red felt for berries (washed and dried): Red Felt Fabric – by The Yard

16 gauge wire: Beadsmith 16 Gauge Tarnish Resistant Copper Wire, 7.3m/8 yd, Gold

Feathers: Celine lin 10PCS Natural Pheasant Feathers Pheasant Tails 14-16inch(35-40CM),Natural

Ribbon: DUOQU 2 inch Wide Shimmer Sheer Organza Ribbon 20 Yards and Chenkou Craft 30 Yards 3/8″ Velvet Ribbon Total 30 Colors Assorted Lots Bulk (Multicolored, 3/8″(10mm)) and Chenkou Craft 20 Yards 5/8″ 15mm Velvet Ribbon Lots Bulk (Multicolored, 5/8″(15mm))

Veil netting: Russian Birdcage Veil Millinery Netting 10″ Wide – White Dot – Sold by The Yard

Lace fabric or applique

Sew on rhonestone: Sew On Rectangle Rhinestone Sew on Octagon Crystal Rhinestones in Silver Setting 36 Pcs by Choupee (Mixed Color, 13 X 18 MM) 

Christmasy parts cut off of my tree (not even kidding)

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I had enough from one slate blue curtain to make the witch hat and overdress bodice, so while waiting for additional slate blue curtains to arrive, I started the ice berries. I had so much fun painting felt for my pine cone dress, I just kept that going with these berries. I sponged red paint mixed with black to darken the bright red felt, and then used a ball of wood shavings for gift baskets shoved into some fishnetting as a sponge for the “ice” effect. I also mixed in pearlescent paint for extra/subtle sparkle. And to add to my tedious efforts, I sewed on dyed coral beads onto each felt berry.

Paints: Apple Barrel Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Acrylic Paint Bundle (2 Ounces Each) and Apple Barrel Paint – Black and White

Pearlescent mixing medium: Sargent Art 22-8813 16-Ounce Pearlescent Mixing Medium

Beads: Natural Quartz Crystal Stones Chips Tumbled Tin Red Coral 3-5mm 1lb Mini Gemstones Healing Energy Reiki Stone Polished Gem for Home Decorative Fengshui Jewelry Making (3-5mm, Red Coral)

• 

• 

• 

• 

The berries were the most time consuming part of this project, so while I sewed beads onto about 75 felt berries, I constructed the hat very quickly. I arranged lace appliques sort of randomly, and stitched them in place. I joined the white linen tip (not in the pattern below) to the slate blue partial cone and zigzag stitched more applique over the seam.

In the original witch hat post, Sarah followed a YouTube video for the cutting and construction of her hat. I’ve made mine slightly different, from a pattern that I made and is posted below. Here’s how I constructed mine:

1. I cut one cone and two circles from the pattern from fashion/top fabric and liner/bottom.
2. I removed and discarded the inner circle on both top and bottom circle pieces.
3. With right sides together, I stitched the cone at the back seam and turned the cone right side out.
4. Then with right sides together I stitched the two circles (top and bottom) together along the outside circumference, and turned the brim right sides out.
5. To keep the hat from being too floppy, I inserted craft wire along the edge of the brim between the two circles and zigzag stitched it in place.
6. Then I pinned the cone to the brim and stitched the two together. The seam allowance can be folded up into the cone, so it’s okay if it looks messy on the inside.
7. Trim! I added netting, ribbon, feathers, a rhinestone, a buckle, faux pine needles, and pine cones that I stole from our Christmas tree. I love it!!

• 

• 

• 

• 

I did play around with the trim a little bit and decided not to use ostrich feathers for this one. I also braided the organza ribbon with the velvet ribbon to give it a subtle candy cane appearance…hope that’s what it ended up looking like to anyone other than me!

And finally, I hot glued (YES!) the finished ice berries to the hat at the terminal ends of the embroidered branches in a random arranement of clusters.

What do you think? Up next is the overdress and eventually pictures of the whole ensemble at our water wall in Houston. A preview from the first shoot (which was a dud) is below.

Download my PDF Loblolly Witch Hat pattern here: WitchHatRSRW

Disclaimer: my pattern makes a very tall, very pointy hat, and fits a size small-medium head…so make a mock-up and adjust accordingly!

Please follow me on Instagram @redshoesredwine for almost daily updates, adventures, and stories! All tutorials, patterns, travel tips, and packing lists are provided free on my blog. I do not charge for them nor allow advertising on my site, but if you would like to donate towards my domain/hosting costs or craft supplies, consider buying me a “coffee”: https://ko-fi.com/redshoesredwine -Thank you, and cheers!