So I made a Bonnet

As the title entails, I made a bonnet to match with lolita outfits and dresses (yay) This will be a slightly artsy post so feel free to just scroll through the pictures if you're not interested in how to make one.

Final Product:

Materials used:
- Glue gun
- A bunch of fake decorative flowers (which I bought from Daiso. I used approximately 4 stems? so $8CAD+tax)
- A straw hat (purchased from Michael's Art Supplies for $3.99 ... or $4.99 I can't remember)
- Scissors (a pair that can cut through wire)
- A long piece of wide ribbon (which I also bought from Michael's. It was in the clearance for $6)

Optional:
- piece of patterned cloth (big enough to fit the circumference of your straw hat)

So before you run off and buy any old straw hat, I am going to give you a piece of advice. Get a straw hat with a brim that folds downwards. Nothing looks more awkward than a bonnet that folds backwards.

The scissors that you use have to be strong enough to cut through wire because a lot of the decorative flowers actually have wire supporting the stems. I didn't know this either but I'm lucky I didn't ruin my pair of tiny scissors

Step 1: Cut your straw hat into a "bonnet" shape
        So I have prepared a photo to show you guys what I mean by this. (I just went on google and stole a picture of a straw hat from hattimetrading.com fyi) I drew a dotted line to indicate how I cut my hat. This step is quite approximate. I don't have exact measurements because I just did it roughly (plus, I'm sure not everyone will be using the same size hat either)

Step 2: Cut the flowers off from the stems
        Get your scissors and flowers ready. Cut each flower off as close to the receptacle as possible (for those unfamiliar with flower anatomy terms, this is the little thing that connects the actual flower part to the stem)
I think this part is the trickiest because a lot of these flowers will have wire holding it together and once you cut that, the flower might start coming apart. Just watch out for that and if it really does, just take your glue gun and put a dab of glue to seal the flower together

Step 2.5 (OPTIONAL): Measure + Cut + Glue your patterned cloth
        This step I'm sure you can leave out, but take a patterned piece of cloth and vaguely measure out the top of the brim of the straw hat (the top of the brim = the side that you won't be gluing flowers all over) You'll notice that the shape of this piece of cloth will look somewhat like a rainbow. Don't worry if you traced the shape a bit bigger, because we can just fold the cloth over to the other side and glue it together.
(Sorry if this step sounds kind of messy and wordy  but I didn't think of blogging how to make my bonnet until after I finished so I didn't take any process pictures)

* Do you see the "rainbow" shape that I'm talking about? *

Step 3: Go batshit crazy with your hot glue gun
        Really. Just take your glue gun, get a bunch of flowers, and the glue them on the UNDERSIDE of the brim of the hat, not the top. However, I guess doing both the top and bottom together would work as well.... I haven't really seen any bonnets like that yet so have fun experimenting. Be careful not to burn yourself  (I have multiple times already ._. )

So mine looks like this closeup. Just spread the flowers any way you like to and make it look good. 

Step 4: Gluing your ribbon
        Take your ribbon and cut a very long piece out, I made mine extra long because I wanted the bow to be big after I tie it under my chin. It's literally about 8 feet long (98 inches) LOOL. Don't worry about it though if yours is shorter. Just make sure you can tie it under your chin. (Ribbon might not be necessary either now that I think about it. If you plan on clipping the bonnet to your hair, ribbon will not be needed. It sure looks cuter with a ribbon though)

Refer to the picture in Step 2.5 to see where to glue the ribbon (along the side of the hat touching the brim)

So that is how to make a bonnet in a nutshell. A big part of lolita fashion is experimentation and trying out new things. I really didn't follow any tutorial on how to make a bonnet. The only thing that I really took from anywhere was that I saw someone used a straw hat as the template and I thought using one would be much easier than making one completely from scratch. Everything else was entirely based on what I thought would look good.

What might I mean by experimentation? Well for one, you don't even have to use flowers. I see a lot of people that just use plain lace and it turns out really nice as well. I was actually planning on doing it that way as well but I can't really find cheap lace anywhere and to me, it seems really difficult to glue lace on a hat. To make a bonnet EVEN simpler, just use that same patterned fabric and completely wrap your straw hat in it. Add the ribbon and then bam: you're done the bonnet.

This has been one very long post and I may have missed out some important information so feel free to comment and ask me anything that might not be clear

~nyappy