Vintage Inspired DIY Christmas Tree Hat

How to Make My DIY Christmas Tree Hat

Christmas crafts might be my favorite, because camp and whimsy are center stage. My DIY Christmas tree hat might be my favorite craft of the year.

This vintage-inspired, tulle, DIY Christmas tree hat was so easy to make — and the best part about it is that there are so many different ways to make it. While I made mine with a sewing machine to create tulle ruffles, Courtney made hers entirely with hot glue and it was just as cute (You can see the video I made with Courtney, here). Both of our DIY Christmas tree hats were directly inspired by Designed By Shea‘s original art.

I’ll happily make a step-by-step tutorial for next year, but I ran out of time before my travels. Still, I’ll give you the low-down on how to make one of your own!

Gather your supplies

For this project, I used the following:

Make the base

Create a cone shape out of felt. Alternately, if you are forgoing sewing and using just a hot glue gun, you can use a party hat as your base. I just eyeballed this to see how big I wanted it. Tip: Cut it out with paper, first — and then use that as your pattern! Remember that it is going to be covered in ruffles, ornaments, or flowers to create a Christmas tree hat, so keep in mind the extra bulk that will add.

Make Ruffles

I used tulle on a spool for the ruffles, since it’s already cut pretty small but has lots of length. I folded it over once, basted on the folded side, and made ruffles the old fashioned way by just pulling one of the threads and gathering it by hand. Don’t want to go through the effort? Buy pre-made ruffled trim for your Christmas tree hat!

Attach Ruffles to the base

I stitched my ruffles line by line before sewing the actual cone together, while Courtney hot-glued hers onto a pre-made cone (party hat). Either way is fine! I just like the finish of stitches vs glue.

Attach Tulle sashes

Use tulle or ribbon to make the bow sash that keeps your hat in place. Attach it to the insides of the hat — one on each side. I hand-stitched mine.

Decorate

This is the most fun part! Decorate your tree as you wish. Add a star topper by gluing stars on both sides of a toothpick and inserting it at the tip of the cone. Your Christmas tree hat is done!