Christmas Cracker Hats

The biggest issue I have with the changes to what I understand to be a very British tradition of Christmas crackers in order to make them more sustainable and eco friendly is it just doesn’t feel like Christmas Day if everyone isn’t sat around the table in cracker hats.

For my children’s birthdays during the covid lockdowns I made them fabric crowns to make them feel special even though they couldn’t have their friends over to party, so I’ve taken this idea and for Christmas this year I’m making re-usable fabric cracker hats for the whole family.

This is a lovely little craft project that’s much easier and quicker than you might think. I’ve got a video uploaded on all my channels showing the process, and I’ve included a free downloadable template/pattern here for you to print out and use.

The adult pattern will fit head sizes 22-24″ and the child pattern will fit head sizes 19-21″ (using the amount of elastic suggested, use more or less to adjust this).

Requirements:

16 x 30cm (6.5 x 12 inches) rectangles of: Outer Fabric, Fusible Interfacing and Lining Fabric.

2 x 8cm (3″) pieces of 1cm (3/8″) wide elastic

Construction:

Fuse the interfacing to the outer fabric and then cut the crown shape out of this and the lining fabric. (I cut these all out separately and fuse afterwards unless i’m making more than 1 hat in the same fabric. Its fiddlier but I do it this way around to be frugal as a second crown will fit in between the points cut but its definitely easier to fuse then cut).
Pin one end of the elastic pieces in place along one of the short edges (as shown) on the right side of the outer fabric.
Sew the lining to the outer fabric right sides together (sandwiching the elastic in the process) along the bottom, short edge with the elastic on and around all the points but leaving open the remaining short edge.
Miter the corners and clip into the points, turn and press.
Tuck under the seam allowance on the open edge and press, place the remaining ends of the elastic in the opening before topstitching closed.

You could do this with ribbons instead of elastic if you prefer, I would secure a piece of ribbon on each short edge and then leave my opening in the bottom edge (near the back though so it doesn’t show right at the front of the hat). I use elastic as I think it makes it easier to wear but ribbons would give you a bigger head size range.

Please note, this pattern is for your personal use only… you may not distribute, publish or copy the pattern in any way.