Well, long story short, I knew I was going to be a pirate for Halloween by Christmas of last year.
Why? Because of that red dress that you can see in the thumbnail above. I ordered it on Amazon despite mixed reviews and it was nothing like I pictured. I was looking for boho chic, and it looked like the peasant garb for a Medieval Times costume. Once I forgot to return it by the deadline, my fate was sealed.
However, I feel that every good pirate has a well-worn tricorn hat, akin to the famous Jack Sparrow hat. Despite loving the look, I didn’t have the money to invest in a top of the line hat, so I found a way to turn this $12 beach hat into a colonial tricorn.
Supplies:
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- Floppy Beach Hat with wide brim, any color
- Brown craft paint, or a mixture
- Hot glue
- Decorations (in my case, blue ostrich feathers)
- Clamps, clips, or something to hold your tricorn steady
Tricorn Hat Instructions:
- Remove any decorations from your hat, including ribbons, bands, and other frippery.
- Paint the entire hat brown. As a bonus step, you can add some distressing around the edges with a darker brown paint. For me, I found that a foam brush worked best to apply the paint. Try to put the paint on in thin layers, because it does tend to stiffen your hat a bit.
- Let your hat dry completely.
- When your hat is dry, start bending up the sides to form your tricorn shape. Each side should be the same size. You can flex the hat to see if it will keep a fold mark, or you can use your clamps to hold your flaps in place.
- Glue your flaps in place with hot glue. If you are using high temp glue, you’ll want to clamp it for a few minutes so that it can cool completely in the proper shape. Alternatively, you can glue this with E6000 or super glue if desired.
- Leave your clamps on a few minutes, then you can decorate your hat any way you like! I kept mine simple by adding ostrich feathers to the side. Voila! A tricorn hat fit for Captain Barbosa!