Sew The Line: DIY Frilly Foam Forms

My mom LOVES to make hats. I'm pretty sure it's an obsession, though I have to admit the hats she makes are pretty darn cute. Especially when my girlies wear them around the house. Trust me, the cuteness doesn't end here. I picked up at LEAST four adorable hats tonight after cleaning up the living room.

Anyway, back on topic. Since we live so far away, Mom was wanting some hat forms to try her hats on as she makes them. I Googled and Amazoned and did all kinds of searches trying to find infant- and child-sized heads -- styrofoam, plastic, anything -- and found squat. I almost gave up when I decided to YouTube "hat forms" and found a tutorial on how to make your own. Thanks to Bethintx1 on YouTube for her awesome tutorial.

I did make a couple of changes when choosing my materials:

I used a 6" styro ball for a child-sized form and a 5" styro ball for an infant-sized form - Bethintx1 suggested a 4" for infant, but I know my girls' heads weren't that small when they came along.
She says not to use high temp glue - I did, and kind of melted my styro balls where I glued. No big deal. Can't tell anyway.
Instead of buying the pretty craft glass marbles/stones, I went with plain ol' ugly fish gravel. My husband picked up a decent sized bag for $3 at our local WalMart. If you go this route, make sure you cover the hole at the bottom of the clay pot so your gravel doesn't pour out.
Instead of just tying the ribbon around, I also hot glued it -- and the tulle -- to the clay pot to make sure neither would just slip around or off. And to make sure the pretty bow stays perfect.

One thing I would change is that I don't like the sound of the gravel rattling around inside the pot (you can only fill it so full. To combat head rattling (heh heh), you could put some batting or fiberfill between the gravel and the styro ball. Or some fabric. Or something.

The other thing I would change is how many layers of tulle I used. I used two layers, but if I did it again, I'd probably use three or four. I don't like being able to see the texture of the styro.

So there ya have it, and here's the finished product.