DIY Witch Hat Sewing Tutorial

Spooky Season is officially here! It’s our favorite time of year to decorate, dress up and indulge in a little trick-or-treat candy (or a lot!). Whether you’re channeling your inner Elphaba, Marnie Piper or one of the Sanderson Sisters for this year’s costume—a custom witch hat will be sure to make heads turn.  Spice up your costume with this festive accessory using your favorite Spoonflower design. Ready to make a Boo-tiful hat? Spoonflower Maker, Keiko Lynn walks us through a detailed tutorial to get the look for her super-popular witch hat project.  

As Keiko fashionably indicates, your witch hat can be any design you like! Spoonflower has a vast Marketplace so you can find exactly the right design to fit your aesthetic. To find what you’re looking for, you can scroll through some of our curated themes. Check out what’s new in our Weekly Design Challenge to see the latest designs on Spoonflower.  

Skill Level:
Medium

Keiko: We’re going to start our witch hat by making the cone first. I have a witch hat cone template you can print out or you can create your own with a measuring tape, a pin, paper and a pen. Start with your 18″ x 14″ (46 cm x 36 cm) fabric. You can use two pieces if you are using a lighter material, or you want a lined inside. 

On the 18” (46 cm) side of the fabric, pin the top of the measuring tape 4” (10 cm) down at 14” (36 cm). This will be where the tip of your cone starts. Using the measuring tape like a compass, guide it to the other edge of the fabric to create the curve of your cone. Mark it with a pen little by little—starting at the 14″ (36 cm) mark until you hit the bottom right edge of your fabric—that’s where you’ll cut the other side of the cone. 

Using your template as a guide, cut the excess fabric. 

Place your template on top of your heavy interfacing and cut out another cone. This will give your cone more structure. If you want a lining for the inside of your hat, cut an extra piece of fabric for that. I usually skip the extra step of lining it unless I’m making it reversible.

Now you should have two identical cones—one of fabric and one of interfacing. You’ll be fusing or stitching the interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric, so it’s like one thick cone shape. Set your cones aside, and let’s start on the hat’s brim.  

We’ll create the brim similar to the way we did the cone, with just a pin, paper, measuring tape and something to mark and cut with. You can make your own template (below) or download my free witch hat brim template. 

Start with your two square pieces of 18” x 18″ (46 cm x 46 cm) fabric. You can fold these in half to make it a little easier to evenly cut out the circles. 

Pin the measuring tape in the center of your folded fabric, making sure to pin on the fold. Let’s start by measuring for the outside of the brim. To do this, measure and mark in 9″ (23 cm) increments. For the inside of the brim, we are going to measure and mark in 3.75″ (9.5 cm) increments. 

Here’s a better visual of what that should look like! 

Cut along the marked edge you made, both for the outside and inside of the brim.

When you unfold your newly cut pieces, you should be left with two circles with holes in the middle. See? Like a donut! 

Now that you’ve cut out your fabrics, let’s cut out your interfacing. You can do this by using your template or repeating the previous steps. 

Think of the brim as three donuts stacked into one—two of your fabric, and one of heavy interfacing that is sandwiched between. Let’s get these layers ready to sew! Your interface should be on top, followed by your fabric. Have the right sides of the fabric facing inward towards each other. Now, let’s start sewing! 

Sew the three pieces together along the outside edge. 

Trim the edge and cut some small notches along the curve to help it lie super flat once it’s turned right side out. 

Turn the brim right side out, so the interfacing is now between the two pieces of fabric. Press the edges with an iron to get a nice, tidy circle. Run a stitch around the center circle to keep all 3 pieces together.  

Now that the brim is done, let’s come back to our cone fabric and interface. First, sew the interface to the wrong side of the fabric. Next fold the piece in half, with the wrong side facing outward. 

Sew along the edge to finish the cone. Mine got super messy because a kitten was “helping” me. But that’s okay, it’s going on the inside.  

Turn it right side out. Now we just have to put the two pieces together! 

Pin the brim to the cone, as seen above. When I use a heavier fabric with heavy interfacing, I do a 1/4″ (0.64 cm) seam since there is zero give on the cone when sewing to the brim. I went a little bit wider on this one and had to be very precise with my pinning. This is a very important step to remember. Pinning will keep you from having to rip stitches and start over. 

Sew the two pieces together. 

I like to press the seam up into the cone and do a top stitch, but that’s optional. 

Now you have your own witch hat in any fabric you want! You can decorate with trim, flowers, add a bow or tulle ties—anything you can think of. Because of how pretty this fabric is, I decided to keep it simple.