Mushroom

Materials:

• One white baby outfit
• Cardboard sheet
• Red felt, ¾ yard
• White felt, ½ yard
• White organza fabric, 2 yards
• Stuffing, such as fiber fill
• White pom poms in various sizes
• Thin white elastic sewing band

Tools:

• Hot glue gun and sticks
• Utility or craft knife
• Cutting mat
• Tapestry needle
• Pencil
• Scissors

Instructions:

Create the hat base

• Cut a large circle from cardboard and cut an oval in the center of the circle large enough for the child’s head.
• Glue a 1-2” tall strip of cardboard around the perimeter of the oval cut out for the head.
• Glue 4 strips of cardboard in a dome shape for the head to fit inside to the cardboard strip in the previous step.

Add the gills:

• Glue white felt to the bottom of the hat base to create a white background for the sheer organza “gills”.
• Cut a long double length of organza fabric. The width of the fabric should be a few inches wider than the length from the oval cutout to the outer edge of the mushroom circle.
• Pleat and hot glue the fabric around the inside edge of the oval cutout, then pleat and glue the fabric to the outer circle edge. 

Make the red mushroom cap:

• Drape red felt over the whole top of the hat.
• Make 4 slit cuts from the outer edge of the felt towards the center, but not all the way.
• Glue the red felt around the outer edge of the hat and overlap and glue the fabric at each of the 4 slit cuts. This will help the fabric attach smoothly around the hat edge.
• Add a bit of stuffing inside that hat as you glue the felt down.
• Glue white pom poms all around the red felt to make the white spots. 

Inside the hat & ties

• Cut and glue two strips of organza for the hat ties to either side of the head opening.  
• Glue an oval of white felt inside the hat dome to make it cozy.

Mushroom ring collar

• Cut a long length of white organza and fold it in half hot dog style so that you have a double layer of fabric.
• Use a tapestry needle threaded with a length of white elastic to pierce and pleat the fabric along the long edge to make the collar.
• Cut the elastic with extra length to use as ties to tie the “ring” around the collar.