Make a Great Christmas Present for Dad: Personalized Hobby Hat

Want to make a great gift for your Dad for this Christmas? Make him a personalized hat! All you need is thick Styrofoam, white glue, ½ yard of wool felt, and a needle and button thread in a coordinating or contrasting color. But, before you shop: first, think about your dad. What are his hobbies? What does he does for fun? Does he like to fish? Does he like to golf? Does he watch football? Does he collect coins? Stamps? Baseball cards? Choose one favorite activity that you will use as inspiration to make him a hat.

Next, go to the local craft store and buy the items listed above. You will need to buy in addition to those items a small amount of wool felt in colors suitable for creating an appliqué. For example, if your dad is a fisherman, choose a nice shade of blue and make a fish for the hat. Or, get white felt and red thread to create a baseball. Brown felt with yellow stitching will make a nice football. Etc. You will need about 6 inches square for the appliqué.

On the small piece of felt, draw a shape to represent the hobby. Cut this out, and set aside.

Next, glue the Styrofoam together until it's big enough to be carved to the shape of your Dad's head. You can use one of his old hats as a guide. You will need the block to be bigger than the hat so that you can carve it to shape. Using a sharp knife, carve the block into a head-like shape to use as a hat form. (Get an adult to do this step!)

Follow the rest of the instructions here:

http://www.costumes.org/Advice/costcraftsmanual/tmpjk10.htm

When you've finished your hat, felt the appliqué you created. Stitch for constrast and then sew the appliqué to your hat. Now you've created a one-of-a-kind present that your dad will love!