I am thrilled to announce a new online hat making course that I will be hosting in collaboration with the Felting and Fiber Studio in August. The sign up form and details such as the material list are located here but to whet your appetite here is a little more information and a few photos of the hats you might want to create, making hats is so much fun I hope you will join me on this on wonderful adventure!

This four-week, hat making course will initially guide you through the different options for hat blocks (from DIY to the extravagant!) and choosing one to fit. Although this module is technically week 1, I will send it out on receipt of payment so you have as much time as possible to make or buy a hat block if you don’t already have one.

Week 2 will focus on making a stylish or quirky concertina hat and will include guidance on how to create a resist for your head size, how to add a felted “pig tail”, creating a brim and forming sharp folds that remain in place. I will also describe how I blend colours and make the “silk stripes” used on some of my hats.

In week 3 we will make a super-cute snail hat. This tutorial is a must for anyone who hates rolling! I will provide my template for you to enlarge to your hat size (I will provide a useful technique that can be used to enlarge items of clothing that you would like to make in felt but need to allow for the shrinkage). I will then go on to explain how to make the eyes on stalks and securely attach them to the hat as well as well as how to create the shell and shape snail’s foot to form a brim for your hat.

Week 4 will be an opportunity to catch up or make another hat, I will provide examples of other hats and their template designs that used the concertina method which you are welcome to copy or, if you prefer, I am very happy to help you design your own hat using this method. The possibilities are almost endless!

If you share a link to this post on your Facebook, Twitter or blog and leave a comment here indicating where you shared it, you will be entered into a prize draw for a free place in this class. If you have already paid for a place and win, your payment will be refunded. The cut off date for entries into the draw is July 28th. The winner will be announced on the Felting and Fiber Studio web page on August 1st. If all 30 class places have been filled by July 28th, the winner will be chosen from those who have already paid and shared the post on social media. Good luck!