Let’s be a vintage cottage garden witch for Halloween!

I blame the change in hair colour, but I feel like a need to create a fun Halloween witchy vibe that’s a little different this year. Well, it just so happens that a few years ago I bought everything I needed to make a cute straw witches hat and somehow the project got left in my ADHD graveyard. Well, this is the year I finally bring this project to life so let’s make a cottage core inspired, woodland straw witches hat for Halloween.

Now, the straw witches hat is not a new idea and there are already heaps of tutorials out there on the World Wide Web but I wanted to see if I could make a bit more of a curved point ontop of the hat and use as much stuff I already had around the house.

Materials:
–Two straw hats (prefably the same to keep the straw the same)
-Scissors
-Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue sticks
-Stock Paper or hardy paper (I used paper shopping bags)
-Various ribbons
-Fake flowers and other millinery decorations

Steps:
-If your hats do not lie flat due to packaging, give them a light iron until they are mostly flat
-Take one hat and using the scissors, cut the binding thread and unthread the entire hat. You should be left with heaps of woven straw ribbons.
-Fold you poster paper, card stock or sturdy paper into a cone shape. Using some tape, tape it to the shape you want and then trim off the bottom so the cone can stand up.
-Use hot glue to glue down the cone ontop of the hat you havn’t pulled apart.
-Using more hot glue, start wrapping your straw ribbon around the cone until it is fully covered. This can take some time and a fair amount of glue. I ended up starting at the bottom of the cone, working my way up. Then starting from the top and working my way all the way down to make everything nice and smooth.

-Once you are happy with your hat shape, adorn your hat with ribbons, flowers and other fantastical treasures.
-If you want, you can add some ribbons to your hat so you can tie it to your head.
-Enjoy your straw witches hat.

This was a simple project to complete in an afternoon and I’m happy with how it turned out. I did think some parts of my wrapping were a little messy and he curve in the cone made this a particular problem and personal annoyance. When I was almost done with the rattan wrapping, I actually ran out of hot glue so I went back a few days later and cleaned up my wrapping lines. I’m so glad I did this as it made a huge difference.
I also decided to make the brim of the hat a little smaller so I unpicked a few rows until I was happy with the size. Although I love a big hat, they can be difficult to pose in and I wanted to make sure I could wear it to Ren Fairs and not poke people in the eye with my hat. I will also note that I forgot with the type of hat I chose, I had to cut a hole for my head on the top of the hat. So yeah, cut out a hole for your head in your hat if you need too.

To complete my cottage core witch ensemble, I wore a cute Linennaive dress and an underbust top (I refuse to call it a corset) which my friend found at an op shop. I don’t think it’s a high-end branded garment (most likely fast fashion to be honest) but it helped pull the look together. This outfit has also inspired some future sewing projects so keep an eye out for those. I also added some fun floral accessories and overall I think the hat turned out great. I’ve always loved the idea of a cottage witch so bringing this idea to life was a lot of fun and I love the final results.

If you decide to make this project, please let me know by tagging me in your social media photos. I love seeing all your creations.

Happy Halloween and Happy Crafting.

Dress from Linennaive

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