As I mentioned in this post, I recently helped to put on a baby shower with a “newsie” theme. One of the fun things I made for the shower were miniature newsie caps.
Frankly, I came up with this idea out of desperation along the lines of “What the hell do you make decor-wise for a newsie shower that doesn’t include newspaper looking items?” I found a tutorial on YouTube, but it was a bit elaborate (and played the music from the musical “Newsies,” which was annoying in-of-itself) so I went my own route and simplified the project.
The hats took some figuring out, but once I got a system and pattern down, they were actually pretty fun to make. I made hats in traditional newsie colors (browns and greens stripe) and added a zesty ribbon around the edges for a little dose of color.
How to Make a Newsie Cap
1. Sketch out your hat brims on cardstock.
2. Glue fabric on both sides of cardstock. Cut out and trim to preferred size.
3. To build the frame of the cap, take a strip of fabric, fold into thirds and glue into place. To help set the strip in place, I ironed the edges to create structure.
4. Glue fabric strip to brim. Allow to cool.
5. Cut out a circular shape of fabric, larger than the cap frame. Glue fabric around frame, starting with the brim and working your way back. If you need to tuck the fabric, try to do so symmetrically.
6. Add ribbon for flair (or to cover up any inconsistencies you may notice in your work).
The newsie caps were a hit of the shower! They are so cute that they make me want to put them on kittens or hope that Henry has a really, really small head so he can wear them once he’s born.
OR – we could glue them all together so they become one big (scary?) newsie cap, then Henry can wear it.
We’ll definitely wait for the glue to cool before trying it on his head, of course.