Make Doll Easter Bonnets from Paper Dishes!

       You don't need to spend much money to make a Easter bonnet for a doll. Look around the house and in the cupboards for a few ordinary supplies and soon you will be crafting all kinds of bonnets for Spring for every doll in your collection! We had so much fun choosing color and pattern combinations for our dolls. Below our 14" doll models a pale blue and white hat for our first hat craft version.

"Dell" our Heart For Hearts doll, models this Easter bonnet made
 from paper dishes.

  Supply List:

• paper cups and plates
• white ribbon
• white cupcake liners
• decorative scrapbook paper
• white school glue
• hot glue and hot glue gun
• masking tape
• extra cardboard 
• pinking shears (optional)
• ribbon for the tie

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Select a paper cup by fitting it to the doll that you wish to make a hat for.
2. Then cut the paper cup down to that size minus the rim. 
3. Take the larger edge of the cup and place it in the center of your small paper plate. Trace around the circumference with a pen or pencil and cut the circle out. This will be the opening for the larger lip of the cup to fit through. 
4. Next take the smaller side of the cup and trace this opening onto a piece of cardboard and trace around it. 
5. Now cut this cardboard circle out and glue the edge of it to fit the smaller end of your cup on top. Let it dry and trim off the edges with a pair of scissors. 
6. Fit the larger opening through the paper plate's hole with the brim of the hat facing down.  Use glue and masking tape to hold the pieces of your paper hat together. 
7. When the initial hat form is dry, shred small pieces of white typing paper and glue these down to the edges where the two paper dishes meet to give them strength. Start with the inside of the hat form and work your way around to the outside of the paper hat.
8. Use a pair of pinking shears to trim off the edges of the hat's brim after all of the glue had dried.
9. Then cut the rippled edges of five or six white cupcake liners to paste to the inside of the rim of the doll's hat, this cover the areas of paper mache neatly and will gave the hat a finished look. 
10. Cut a long strip of decorative scrapbook paper to be a hat band. I cut a very wide hat band in order to cover the printed areas of the paper cup.
11. Trim the top of hat with paper cupcake liners or scrapbook paper using white glue to finish off the last layer of paper mache.
12. Now make small bows, flowers, or shapes to hot glue in place if you wish to add these. I made a small bow with ruffled edges cut from the cupcake liners. But, you may choose to decorate the band of your paper hat differently.
13. Hot glue a ribbon to either side of the hat interior to tie the hat around the chin of your doll. Each ribbon should be no shorter than eight inches if you are making the hat for either a 14" or an 18" doll.
    

(1.) Left, small paper plates and medium sized paper cups for our 14" doll's head.
(2.) Center, you can see the first circle is traced with a red marker onto the paper plates center.
I will cut this our in order to fit the altered cup inside. Right, now my paper cup hat has both a brim
 and I have also glued an additional cardboard piece to the top of the hat to close up the
second smaller hole.

(6.) Left, cut this cardboard circle out and glue the edge of it to fit the smaller end of your cup on top.
Let it dry and trim off the edges with a pair of scissors. (6.) Center. see the interior of the
 hat being glued and taped firmly in place. Right, the finished result after gluing a
plaid band with a bow in place.

Our doll Dell wears the finished Easter bonnet made from a paper plate, a paper cup and a bit of creativity.
 I think the blue plaid band flatters her eyes!

Make more paper hats for your dolls:

• Millinery In Miniature
• Doll sized hats...
• A paper Easter hat to trim