How to Make a Top Hat

A top hat also known as a cylinder hat, a chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat; is a tall, flat and broad brimmed hat. This hat was worn before and during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, but now it is mostly worn as a fashion statement or by magicians. For making a top hat, soft silk is woven with a long and defined nap. Though such hats are not made now, you can still see them in antique shops. Mostly, traditional top hats are inherited or bought second hand. Craft felt material is the answer. With this material you can make multicolored hats like the 'cat in the hat' hats. Craft felt is a good stiff material, which will allow the hat to stand upright. Other stiff material which can be used for making this hat is vinyl upholstery fabric, but for making a top hat out of this heavy fabric you will need heavier sewing machine needles. The process of creating a top hat out of cloth and poster board is almost the same.

Creating a Top Hat Out of Poster Board?

Using cardboard will be a bit more tedious, as it is not that easy to bend. Also, you will need to paint the cardboard hat later on, or you can just use black poster board and avoid on painting time. The things you will require are black poster board sheets, glue gun, a stapler, pencil, cutter, scissors and black felt paper. You can also try using construction paper and follow the instructions below if you don't have poster paper.

• Take a large plate and place it over a sheet of poster board, mark the circle and cut a circular piece out of the poster board sheet.
• Now, take a hat and place it on the circular board piece, and mark another circle on it, and cut the inner circle with the cutter. Now you will have two shapes a smaller inner circle and the other donut shaped piece.
• Take another sheet of poster board and form a cylinder, ensure that the mouth of the cylinder is the size matching the inner circle. Use glue to stick the sides of the cylinder together, the height of the cylinder depends upon how tall you wan the hat to be.
• Then cut short vertical lines, around 1½ inches, around one end of the cylinder to create some flaps.
• Now, slip the bigger donut shaped circular piece through the cylinder.
• Use a stapler and attach the flaps to the donut shaped poster piece.
• To hide the flaps, cut a piece which is the same size of the donut. Glue this piece over the original donut piece to hide the flaps.
• To give your hat a more finished look, use a felt paper to cover it with the glue gun.

You can experiment with other ideas to decorate or create the top hat. For example you can make the cylinder with multicolored stripes to give a funky look. You can also make the brim a bit bigger, to give it a comical look; or add a buckle or ribbon strip to decorate your top hat.