Hand Made Daniel Boone Hat

As all you who follow my blog would know, my family really likes Daniel Boone.  We did a unit study on him and have the whole TV series. Jacob even dresses up like him once in a while.
Last summer I bought a lot of faux fur material from a garage sale for $2.00. Then in November I ordered 25 real raccoon tail key chains.  I wanted to make "Daniel Boone" (or Davy Crockett) hats to sell.  We know that Daniel Boone didn't actually wear a raccoon hat in real life, but his TV character does, so it's fun to pretend.

So, here's the process to making a "coon skin" hat.

This is the "fur" I bought. This is folded over double. It's about 7 feet long and I got 2 of them.

 

Because it's sewn doubled together, I cut enough for 2 hats.  I cut a strip 4.5"x22" and a circle 7" in diameter. This was fun because I had to use math that I hadn't used since high school.(I know I'm weird, but I think math is fun!) To find the diameter of a circle, (the distance across), you divide the circumference (the distance around) by pi (or roughly 3.14). My circumference was going to be 21", so allowing for a seam allowance, I used a 7" plate as a guide to cut the circle.

 Next I hemmed the long strip for a nice bottom edge. Then I pinned it to the circle, right sides together and sewed around it.  Then I pinned the seam for the back with the tail in place and sewed that. Because I could only find real raccoon tail key chains, I just cut the key chain part off. (My sewing "room" is in a little alcove in my bedroom. It was really nice to be working in there for the first time today. I think it might be a little cramped if I were working on a bigger project though. But, I can't see that happening to often!)

Jacob tried it on for me because I used his head for the sizing and it fit perfect! I am going to hem it another 1/2" though, because I think it's too tall. But other than that I think it turned out really great and it only took me about 20 mins to make, mistakes and all.  So, now I only have 24 to go!

 

This post is linked up to; Growing Home, Saving 4 Six, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, Dandelion House Adventures of a DIY Mom The Better Mom, A Mama's Story Road To 31 Raising Arrows Graced Simplicity