I love hats and have always wanted to try making a pillbox hat. :3 I read a bunch of tutorials, but in the end developed my own method and went through four iterations before getting a very clean finished result on my 5th attempt - which is the one that ended up with the decorations on it. I took step by step photos while making the final version of the hat but haven’t had the time to edit them yet (and I’m still deciding how to present this tutorial).
I love waterlilies and lotuses, and I’ve been wanting to do a new piece with a dragonfly in it, so the design was easy enough. I actually have a sternum tattoo of a lotus (technically it’s the silver imperium crystal from Sailor Moon in its lotus shape) so I treat water lilies and lotuses as a kind of personal symbol.
Since I’m not fond of sewing, I didn’t do any sewing to make this hat. The hat itself (not counting the four test versions) took about 5 hours to make. The waterlily, lilypad, and dragonfly probably took twice as long to do, so around 15 hours altogether.
The hat is covered with navy blue silk dupioni I bought more than a decade ago; it was the first material I ever made a kanzashi project with, but I bought quite a lot of it. I still have some left, and I’m trying to decide how to use it.
The lilypad is rosegold glitterwire with fantasy film that shifts colors depending on the lighting and angle of view, and the waterlily is made of the same glitterwire and an iridescent purple/pink/yellow organza.
The dragonfly is silver glitterwire, aqua blue organza, and aquamarine rhinestones.
Using wire and fabric to create flowers and dragonflies is a popular kanzashi making technique, and I pair it with tsumami craft projects regularly, but this is the first project with no tsumami craft at all - just wirework.
I also have some cute sewing tags that I had made eons ago when I thought I might want to try sewing again. XD At least I found a good use for them now on the inner brim of the hat. I also have a comb that I feed the teeth through the interior lace edging in order to wear the hat (not pictured), but you could also put hairpins through the lace or attach elastic.
