Trail Blazed Hats

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Trail Blazed Hats

This is trail blazed hats. I made these hats because as a consumer and lover of cowgirl hats, I have more than I can count, and I don't particularly like the style of all of them. So, I took two of my hats that I wore the least, and used a soldering iron to burn the fabric and etch in a design. It completely transformed the hat, and made them look brand new and unique.

This is the first hat I burned. I wanted to explore the idea of wood burning hats because I had seen it before, and so I took this opportunity to try something new.

The hat above is made of a cotton and polyester blend, and I used pencil to sketch my designs on beforehand and then burn over them.

This is the second hat I created. Since I was trying this out for the first time, I wanted to use two different types of hats. This hat is 100% wool, and burned differently, not as fast, and came out a bit cleaner. I did not sketch anything on to this hat at first, all the designs are free handed. I also created the ribbon and beading around both of the hats.

This project was meaningful to me because I got to repurpose items I already had, and make something new, which is something I am super passionate about. I also was able to develop a new skill and show my fashionista side!

The Process:

First I started with the plain hats. The first hat I made a sketch using pencil and then went to burn in the design using a soldering iron on medium heat. I changed the tip of my soldering iron at varying times to get a precise burn. After certain sections were burned in, I took sharpie and traced them to make the design pop. Then I used hot glue, ribbon and beads to make bands for around the hats.