Vintage Inspired Crafts: Lil Strawberry Shortcake Hat Tutorial

How about a little walk down memory lane for those of us that remember old school Strawberry Shortcake?  I was a HUGE fan and had loads of Strawberry Shortcake dolls & paraphernalia.  It's one of my absolute favorites from childhood.  And now that my daughter is old enough to embrace them, I've had fun gathering my old gear, scoring vintage finds on eBay for our collection and making items like today's Strawberry Shortcake Hat.

Last summer I found out they had re-released an anniversary edition of 80's style dolls and bought them for my little miss.  She has become a big fan too (and has totally enabled my latent Strawberry-addiction).

And since whimsical hats are kind of my "thing", I had to make one in honor of my childhood favorite and I'm sharing how I did it, so you can get your Strawberry fix too;)  

It's got all the details, like mini embroidered strawberries sprinkled throughout:

And a nice juicy plush berry on the tip top:

Materials Needed:
- 3/4 yd pink fleece
- 1/4 yd red fleece
- scrap of green felt
- Peel & stick embroidery stabilizer, red & green embroidery thread ~or~ small strawberry appliques/button
- Small handful of fiberfill
- Sewing notions: rotary cutter/shears, pins, hand sewing needle 

From the pink fleece I cut out a circle with a 23 inch diameter and a peter pan style collar in my daughter's size (3-4T) and trimmed it to make sure it would be about 22 inches on the inner edge.  From the red fleece I cut a rectangle 5 inches high by 22 inches wide and two 3 inch high strawberry halves and a small stem bit from some green felt.

I cut 8 small squares of peel & stick stabilizer and placed them on the wrong side of the circle where I planned to machine embroider the strawberries.  If embroidery isn't an option, small appliques or buttons would work too.

My embroidery machine (a Brother SE 400) came programmed with a small strawberry design already on it, but it had a black outline & seeds so I just skipped that step, so I'd have the classic red berry, green stem look I wanted (my machine embroidery how-to can be found here).

After I did all 8 berries, I did a basting stitch around the outer edge for gathering later:

I folded the rectangle width-wise and stitch the short side together to make the band.

Then I opened the band and folded it in half length-wise like this:

Next I took the collar pieces and stitched the outer edges together and trimmed to make the brim:

I turned it right side out and topstitched.

Now I lined up the raw edge of the brim with the edge of the band, pinned and then stitched them together:

Then I took the gathered bonnet portion and pinned it to the other edge of the band, wrong side out and stitched them together.

For the finishing touch, I stitched together the strawberry halves, turned them right side out and stuffed with a little fiberfill.  Then I hand stitched the stem on top and stitched it onto the hat.

And then we were ready to get our Strawberry Shortcake on!

And of course I couldn't stop there, so I made some little green & white striped knit leggings and used the last of some lovely Strawberry Shortcake knit fabric I'd bought a few years back and made her a little tank dress using my Tip Top Tank Top Tutorial.  If I ever find that fabric again I'll get smart and just buy an entire bolt.

We got such a kick out of this little chapeau that I made Strawberry Shortcake the theme for her last birthday party and it was fabulous!  I'm a little ashamed to admit it was nearly a year ago and I'm just now getting my photos together to show it, but baby steps, right?  I promise it'll be worth the wait, so stay tuned for the party reveal in the not-so-distant future;)

I'm also sharing this project with my FAVE LINK PARTIES.

Click HERE to check them out!

Fresh From Father's Day: It's The Craftastic Monday Link Party!

This week's Craftastic Featured Links

A very Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there this Craftastic Monday!  I hope everyone had some special celebrations with the fathers in their lives.  We enjoyed a nice outing with mine and my husband finally got some time to relax and work on his current crafty project with the kids - a bat house!

I was also very grateful and happy to finally get some much-needed sewing time for me.  With a family funeral, hosting my sister's bridal shower, wrapping up our homeschool year, contractor's working on our house and a very nasty bout of poison ivy, I have had very little time for sewing the past few weeks and I have missed it terribly.  The good news is now that there is some time, sweet new sewing projects will be coming soon, as well as some new features, reviews and several fabulous fabric giveaways!!!

And it's also time to announce the winner of the giveaway for a $20 Gift Certificate to Southern Fabric:

Congratulations Stacy - have fun picking out some goodies and a big thank you to my lovely sponsor, Southern Fabric, for providing this prize!


Now let's see last week's Craftastic picks:


Check out the fabulous bird bath made from a plastic pipe & tray at Crafts A La Mode:

I LOVE the look of this moss garland from While Wearing Heels.  I want to throw a party just so I can have an excuse to make some!

Sugar Tart Crafts shared this great tutorial for making a pretty fondant rainbow (substitute modeling chocolate to make it vegetarian-friendly):

The Alm Project showed some beautiful silk ribbon embroidery.  This is on my crafts-to-try list:

Check out this fabulous reverse applique from Sew Simple Dress.  The how-to makes it easy too:

We're addicted to pretzel rolls over here, so this recipe from A Handful of Everything is a must-try:

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on the sidebar to let everyone know.  I also feature these projects & more party favorites on the Sew Can Do's Craftastic Picks board on Pinterest. Follow me there to see more great projects (and if yours is one of them)!   
  

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple:

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to giveaways, shops, link parties or other people's work).  Add the link to your specific post (not the main page of your blog).
• Grab my party button & put it on your post or blog somewhere.  The code's on the sidebar -> 
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

Oz The Great and Powerful Inspired Adventure Cookies

Today I've got a special treat I'm very excited to share: my Oz The Great and Powerful Inspired Adventure Cookies.  I received an advance copy of the Blue Ray Combo pack for Oz the Great and Powerful and was asked to create a project inspired by the movie.  It was a lot of fun because it has all my favorite things - a treat, a fun movie and a crafting challenge rolled into one!

I have to say I was really wowed by the visuals of Oz.  The scenes and effects really were beautifully done and there's an interesting assortment of characters. That made it fun to come up with some sweets that explore the land of Oz.  By using my go-to treat ingredient, modeling chocolate, and a few basic tools, it was easy to sculpt up some of my favorite elements from the movie.  And now you can too!

You'll Need:

- Package of white chocolate wafer melts
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- Flat sugar cookies
- Cookie/fondant cutters (circle, oval/egg, triangle/carrot)
- Rolling pin, butter knife, small paintbrush
- Gel food coloring
- Optional decorations: edible pearl dust, rainbow Twizzlers, pearlized gum balls

To make the easy-to-sculpt modeling chocolate (aka candy clay), melt one bag of chocolate melts in a Pyrex container in the microwave according to package instructions (usually 1 minute on half power).   

It may not look like it's completely melted, but if you stir well it will get smooth.  Fold in 1/2 cup of corn syrup until it starts to come together like a dough ball, then spread out about 1/2in thick on cling wrap covered cookie sheet and cover with more cling wrap.

Let it sit for at least 3 hours to set, then knead with hands until soft like play dough.  Now you're ready to get decorating!  Separate modeling chocolate and make the various colors with a drop or two of the coloring gel.  I did some red, blue, yellow, black, lime green, tan and peach.  Sprinkle some cornstarch onto a smooth work surface and roll out to start modeling.

To make Glinda's crown I used a pointy shaped cutter (a carrot) and then pressed indentations with my paintbrush handle.  After layering several rows, I brushed it with pearl dust to give it some shimmer and finished it with a pearlized gum ball.  

The matching wand was just white circle cut background with rolled out wand of tan and pink shimmered up to make a good witch cookie pair:

To make my Theodora & Wicked Witch, I used an egg shaped cutter for the faces: 

And cut out hat shapes with my butter knife, using a toothpick to add some detail:

The Wizard & his sidekick Finley's hats were also knife cut, but with some rolled pieces added to build them up and a swish of pearl dust to accent them:

Emerald City Witch Evanora's apple was a circle I indented a bit at the top & bottom and added a little rolled stem.  To get the mottled look of her magic necklace I mixed a bit of the green & black together to marble it and then cut out an oval.  Pearl dust on the chain and the enchantment is complete:

My absolute favorite look was the little China Doll.  

She was so cute and the details of her porcelain were a cool effect, so I had to make a cookie for her too, by cutting a bell shape for her peachy hair and outlining the hairline:

Then cutting another little white oval face and putting them together made her complete.

To make a pretty poppy flower I just cut out two circles and pinched them in the center and waved them up a bit.  Rolling a few tiny black circles added the center detail and a few brush strokes of shimmer for a little magic:

And for Oz's hot air balloon, I cut up some red & yellow Twizzlers into thin strands,

then bent those into stripes & waves and pressed them into place on the balloon:

Our family really enjoyed watching this and the kids could not wait to dig into the cookie characters and take a little edible adventure into Oz.  It definitely makes for a more magical snack!  



Oz the Great and Powerful Blue Ray Combo Pack is out now & there's a Pinterest Sweepstakes too.  Find out more on:

• Facebook
• Twitter

• Pinterest
  
  

This is a sponsored post written for Disney and Blueprint Social, for which I received compensation.  The opinions are entirely my own, based on my own experience.  For my complete disclosure policy, click here. 

And you can find more fun Oz-themed projects to inspire you here: