This Pandemic has brought us a lot of worries and anxiety, no doubt. But, on the bright side, it has taught us the meaning of resilience. Speaking of the bright side of things, I have discovered another talent of mine. And yes, it’s the art of making cat hats or pet hats, apart from being now a haircutter, of course ๐
I did start making a few cat hats before, but it’s only been recently that I have honed my skills in becoming a cat milliner, lol. All because I stumbled upon a book by the artist, blogger, and Buzzfeed Illustrator Adam Ellis. His wonderful book called Tiny Hats on Cats is full of creative ideas and instructions on how to make cat hats. This cat hatmaking-book, which could also apply to any pets, be it a dog or any pet that can stay still for about a few seconds (enough to wear the hat), is a lot of fun to browse and will put you in a crafty mood.
There are several cat hat styles shown in this book. You can choose from Sherlock Hat, Gondolier Hat, Pirate Hat, or even a Graduation Hat (pretend like your cat is about to graduate this Spring from what feels like an eternal homeschooling on how to stop asking for treats, lol). Most of the cat hat styles are easy to do because the instructions in the book are pretty much easy to follow. Also, the materials needed to do the cat hats are pretty much easy to compile since most of them are probably already in our homes. The only thing you’ll ever need is a tiny dash of creativity, a bit of persistence, and a really patient cooperative cat (like my cat Bibi, pictured above).
In this post, I’ll show you how to make a Party Hat. It’s probably one of the simplest cat hat styles to do, as illustrated in the book.
Materials:
*Glue Sticks
*Glue Gun
*Bone Folder (not that necessary, but very useful anyway)
*X-Acto Knife (a.k.a. hobby knife. Please be very careful with this because this is very sharp).
*Hair Cutting Scissor (prefer this than the regular scissor because this is more precise, and besides, I have been practicing on how to cut hairs with this :-)).
*Compass (depends on the hat style, in this post, this is not that necessary)
*Construction Paper
*Pattern Paper (optional)
Instructions:
Cone:
From the corner of a Construction Paper or any sturdy paper, cut a square piece measuring about 3 inches on each side.
Cut or make a quarter-circle out of this square piece. You may or may not need a compass for this. Estimating your cut works just fine.
Once it looks triangular, cut the tip with the scissor curving through.
You can now make a cone shape out of this figure by gluing each side (careful with the hot glue gun). Notice the small opening at the top. That is where the hat fringe is going to be.
Fringe:
Using a Pattern Paper, cut a rectangular strip that is about 6 inches in length and has a tapered height from 3 inches down to 2.
Create the fringe using a scissor. Trying not to cut all the way through.
Curl the fringe using a bone folder, the tip of a scissor, or even a pen.
From the longest fringe, roll the strip inward and glue it together.
Insert and glue the curled fringe into the cone you just made.
You now have a cute party hat.
The million-dollar Q is how do you make the hats stay on top of the cat’s head? Hmmm…that’s always going to be a challenge :-).
Bottom line, if you are bored in this Pandemic, or if you have some extra time to bother your cats, dogs, or be it any pets, try making this hat. This will be a very fun activity but most likely only for you (or your Instagram, perhaps) and maybe not for your cats :-).
What have you been crafting lately?
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