Tassel Hat DIY

Summer trends in one word: straw. I adore straw hats, bags, tassels, even shoes have graced my virtual shopping carts. I’m in love with it’s warm, neutral color – adding a texture to an overall meh outfit. This raffia straw hat was so fun to make because I knew I would wear it with everything.

I make a lot of “loud” DIYs. Things that I wear and people don’t forget. It’s wonderful, but with any loud clothing item you get a lot of “I remember that!” or ” I’ve seen that before..” Yes, let it be known I am an outfit repeater. However, sometimes I don’t want people to know that. That’s why this hat is perfect. It blends in with any outfit without being too loud. It is great for beach trips, casual maxi dresses, and of course – the Derby (which we watched in P-town this year!)

Read our guide to Provincetown with the Salt House inn here

Materials

8 skeins of natural raffia 1.75 oz (i got mine from the dollar store)

or

2 large skeins

needle & thread

straw hat (mine purchased from TJ Maxx clearance)

Instructions to make a straw tassel hat

step 1: First, remove (if needed) all embellishments from your straw hat. I had to remove a decorative rope around the middle and then peel off the residual glue.

step 2: create your tassels.

If you are using a large skein, find a small book or pack of cards. Wrap 20-30 times around the pack of cards down the length. cut a piece of raffia about 7 inches long and thread through the width of the cards. Next, tie the length piece of raffia to connect the wrapping together. To create the tassel, cut the bottom of the gathered raffia to split the circle. Using another. long piece of raffia, tie ~1 inch from the top to pull the strands together.

If you are using the small skeins, they are already wrapped for you! just tie the top and pull together at the sides!

Repeat to create 8 pom-poms!

step 3: Finally, sew the raffia onto your hat. Using the needle and thread, I did a simple straight stitch to fuse the tassel to the hat. I was shocked how easy raffia was to sew thread! In order to secure, I created 5-6 stitches per tassel until it really felt tied on there. Working my way around the hat, I sewed each tassel on for a total of 8.