Magician Hat

$20 - $30 (based on 2025 prices)

Makes one hat

Back in 2018, the costume I made for the German American Club’s Fasching celebration won first place. So, for their 2026 event, I made plans to create another costume which would put me in the running for the same prize. This hat was part of the design and meant to tie together the soothsayer theme by subtly incorporating the Magician tarot card. Although my version had a specific theme, you can always alter the accessories to accommodate your aesthetic, such as a series of red roses and horns for a demon motif.

• One eight-inch top hat
• One yard of one-inch-wide red ribbon
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• An assortment of artificial flowers in various colors and sizes
• An assortment of artificial leaves in varying hues and dimensions
• One sheet of white copy paper with the Magician tarot card printed on it
• One sheet of cream-colored cardstock
• One peacock feather
• One silver safety pin
• Three decorative stick pins

1. Measure the circumference of the hat’s crown to determine the length of the band. Then, cut the ribbon to that length and use it to make a band around the hat. Although I chose a red ribbon for contrast, you can pick whichever hue matches your color scheme.

2. Decorate one side of the hat with the artificial flowers, clustering the larger blooms along the brim and swirling the smaller flowers upward across the crown toward the top. Following this, give the arrangement more depth by filling the gaps with the leaves. For visual interest, try to refrain from clustering flowers and leaves with the same hues and shapes together.

3. Cut out the Magician card and create a backing for it with the cardstock, leaving a quarter-inch border around all four sides. How large you make the entire card is up to your chosen aesthetic. I made mine 3.25” x 5.5” so that it was highly visible from afar; however, you can go smaller for a subtler look.

4. Using colored pencils, color the card to correspond with the theme of your hat. For the time-pressed haunter, you can use a colored print and bypass this step or leave the card uncolored to contrast with the vibrant hues of the flowers.

5. Decorate the other side of the hat with the tarot card, a peacock feather, and the remaining flowers and leaves. I positioned everything in the center of the space to create a sense of balance, but you can position the items closer to the front of the hat to make them more prominent.

6. Accent the hat with the stick pins, nestling them among the flowers, and use a safety pin to make the card look tacked to the hat. These types of details can be substituted with other objects to cater the accessory to your theme.

7. Depending on how heavy you make the hat, you may want to fashion a chin strap out of the remaining ribbon to help it stay in place, particularly if you plan to wear it in windy conditions or plan to be highly active with it on.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.