Cabbage Patch Kid Hat (NO Crocheting or Sewing!)

Sometimes we all need a little nostalgia in our lives. What better way to get your fix then with a household classic, the Cabbage Patch Kids!?

This Cabbage Patch inspired hat/wig is a big trend in kids and baby fashion...isn't it time you could make your own? Easy and cheap, with NO crocheting or sewing needed!

Let's begin...

Step 1: What You'll Need

Here's what you'll need:

1. A knitted or crocheted hat, or a beanie (I got mine from Dollar Tree)

2. Thin felt sheets (also from Dollar Tree)

3. Glue sticks and a glue gun

4. Yarn in the color of hair you want

5. Scissors

OPTIONAL: a picture of an original Cabbage Patch Kid for reference.

Step 2: Create Bangs

Step one in the process is to create those famous Cabbage Patch bangs.

1. Make loops in a piece of yarn. (NOTE: 15" of yarn make about four 1" loops.) To make the loops, you can use one of two methods: wrap the yarn around your fingers, OR loop it like you would bunny ears on a shoelace. Make about 3-5 at a time (I settled with 4).

2. Using a smaller cut piece of yarn, tie off the bottom of the loops with a knot. (NOTE: I trimmed the "tails" under the knotted part of the yarn to have less bulk.)

*See pictures for reference.*

3. Glue the knotted end to a piece of felt. The felt should measure the entire width of the FRONT of the hat around the brim (only the front half, notthe entire diameter of the hat brim), and it should be about 2-3" tall.

4. Make 2-3 rows of bangs. For my particular hat, I used 30 sets of bangs (15 sets per row for 2 rows).

(Note: The felt I purchased was 5.5" x 8.5" each piece)

Step 3: Attach Bangs to the Hat

1. Trim the excess felt away from the bangs.

2. Hot glue the felt to the front of the hat.

NOTES: I would ideally use a hat that is the same color (or very close) to the yarn you have chosen for hair. In my case, Dollar Tree didn't have anything close, so I used a "skin" color instead. Another note, stretch out the hat while you attach the glue and felt to it. If you don't, the hat will gradually "shrink" as the hot glue dries. I used a book to keep my hat taut.

Step 4: Make Some Long Locks

1. Wrap yarn around a large book lengthwise (in my case, I used a laptop). This technique creates a lot of long strands in one easy step.

2. Have a friend or family member hold the strands tight as you cut them off the object they were wrapped around.

3. Using a new felt piece, glue the ends of the strands to the long side of the felt piece. (See pictures for clarity.)

4. Glue the felt piece to the hat along the center on "the part." This will only be HALF the head. Trim the stray ends (in the center of the part) to be all in one straight line, not staggered as originally shown in pictures 3 and 4.

NOTE: To get thick enough "hair," I had to repeat steps 1-4 a total of four times (two for each side of the hat/head). So after you do it once, do it three more times.

5. Glue a second felt set of locks underneath the first set. This will double the thickness to make it "just right."

6. Trim all excess felt so it doesn't show or add bulk.

NOTE: It's obviously better to have felt that matches the hat and/or the hair color. But if you're working on the cheap, you gotta do whatchya gotta do. Improvise! ;) Also, if you make the strands long enough, you can just cut them in half to fit the entire head. They would have to be longer than mine were when wrapped around a laptop.

Step 5: Choose a Hairstyle

Choosing a hairstyle now will make it easier to fill in the "bald spots" in the next step.

1. Decide if you want the hair to be braided, in straight pigtails, tied at three places, etc.

2. Sometimes it's easiest to use a picture for reference.

I tried the hat on my daughter many times throughout the making of this hat to get sizes and lengths just right.

3. Trim the excess strands. For example, the strands on ours were very long, and a Cabbage Patch doll has about shoulder length hair. So we tied the top (before braiding), and the bottom (after braiding) with additional pieces of yellow yarn (but you could use ribbon to make it more realistic to the doll's hair). Then I trimmed it an inch or so under the bottom tie.

Step 6: Fill in the Bald Areas

Chances are likely that you will get some bald areas. Now is the time to fill those in.

Simply hot glue strands directly on to the hat itself in areas that need more hair until you get the look you like.

NOTE: Take into consideration the lay of the hair on different parts of the head (especially when it's pulled up in pigtails). This will determine which way the strands go (horizontal, vertical, or maybe even diagonal).

Step 7: REPEAT & Complete

Once you have half the head the way you like it, REPEAT this process on the other half of the head.

Then, YOU'RE DONE! :D

Now show off your masterpiece and have some fun! Be sure to share pics of your hard work in the comments below.

You can wear this adorable hat in so many different ways, and you can put it on a variety of ages. Be creative! Maybe even make some as gifts!? Endless possibilities!

Stay blessed.