How I Monogrammed Straw Hats

I had my straw hat about a year before I actually monogrammed it.  (It’s the hPe hat shown above.) I had read several tips on how to do it from several post in one of my Facebook “embroidery groups”.  Many spoke of using craft foam on top of the hat under the thread????  I just had my doubts about that method.  I figured that there had to be another way.  I could understand using the craft foam if the straw hat had holes or gaps (non tightly woven straw).  The foam would then give a thick, solid surface for the thread to grab ahold to on top of the straw, but not all straw hats are made the same nor do they all come from the Dollar Tree.
 
TIPS:

• Start with a tightly woven straw hat. Mine came from Walmart for under 10.00.
• Use a font that has some density to it……thickness to the width of the font.  I used Empress Monogram Font by Itch2Stich.  I think it was the PERFECT  font, don’t  you? I  used the 3″ size.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Adhesive tear away stabilizer (or tear away with adhesive spray, but may leave hat sticky)
• WSS (Water soluble embroidery stabilizers)
• straight pins or clamps
• embroidery machine with fast frames or hoops
• tightly woven straw hat
• thread color of your choice
• ruler or measuring tape
• fabric marking pen/marker

STEPS:

1.   Attach your adhesive tear away stabilizer to  your frame or hoop. I used my fast frames, but hoops would work as well especially if you have a single needle machine.

2.  Find your center and attach the hat to the stabilizer.

3.  Pin the wss to the hat.  I push the pin through the hat and bottom stabilizer as well as the wss on top to give the hat extra stability on the adhesive tear away.

4.  Put frame or hoop on your machine, center the needle and stitch away.  Make sure you rotate the monogram so that it is placed correctly on the hat.  I have heard stories of people forgetting to do this, and their monogram was upside down.   

 Empress Monogram Font from Itch2Stitch

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  I’m not an expert, but this method worked well for me.