I seriously fell for Eugenia Kim’s sun hats last summer {I mean seriously how cute?!}, but since I still have not won the lottery, spending $455 on a beach hat is just not happening. Luckily, a few weeks ago, I came across this tutorial on Glitter Guide and decided to try my hand at making a sequin sun hat.

I ended up doing one a little different and wanted to share the process with you.  There are all kinds of fun phrases you can put on your hat from, “out of office,” “off duty,” “Mrs. {Insert New Last Name Here},” or “vitamin sea.” I decided to go with “do not disturb,” but decided to incorporate my love of donuts {#priorities.}

So here’s what you need:

• straw sun hat {I picked mine up at Charlotte Russe, but here are some different inexpensive options for you: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
• single strand sequin ribbon {I’d recommend using a bold color! I bought a 4 yard roll and had more than enough}
• donut sequin appliqué {I thought for sure I’d be able to find this at Michael’s, Hobby Lobby or JoAnn’s, but didn’t find one on any of their sites. Luckily, I found this one for less than $5}
• pencil
• high temperature hot glue gun

It cost me a little over $20 for all my supplies: my hat was $15, the donut appliqué was $4 and after pulling up my Hobby Lobby coupon the sequin ribbon was just $1.79 {with enough ribbon for another hat!}.

Start by sketching out what you want on your hat brim.  It was pretty hard to get this visible so don’t be afraid to really press down and go back over if you need to.   If your hat has any adornments, keep these in mind in terms of placement. For example, I knew I wanted the little crochet bow to be centered in the back.

After you’ve sketched it all out go ahead and make sure you’re happy with how it looks. I used this time to adjust spacing + adjust letter sizing to my heart’s desire.  I used my donut appliqué instead of an ‘O’ so I made sure that the lettering was similar in size.  

{Please excuse my mom’s janky glue gun…}

Following your sketch, apply hot glue and attach sequin ribbon.  Be careful, otherwise you will burn the life out of your hand like I did.  Be patient and do small sections.

You can cut ribbon where needed, but don’t be afraid to go back over the top of the ribbon either.  For the donut, I put glue around the edge and then placed it over the ends of my ‘d’ and ‘n.’  

After you’ve glued everything down, give it time to take hold and then go back and clean up any glue webs and erase any pencil marks that may be showing.  After that you’re done — get ready to wear your fab hat to the beach + pool and get tons of compliments!