Hats for a Tea Party--Part 1

My mother found a bunch of straw hats at the local dollar store (a Dollar Tree) for $1 each, and had the great idea to make a collection of hats to use at future tea parties.  She found some great how-to videos on YouTube about Derby hats that we watched before getting to work.

In addition to the straw hats, we bought assorted ribbon,

 flowers,

feathers,

and some accent pieces, including birds and butterflies.

We used a hot glue gun to attach well, everything.  We had so much fun that I actually made an extra trip to the dollar store to get a couple more hats so we could make more!

For my "tea party" this week, I've paired a teacup with each of the hats. 

I have 12 "guests" for this tea party--I'll share six of them today and six tomorrow.  In addition, some cups and saucers have snuck in that haven't shown up on the blog before.

First, the pink hat in the front paired with a favorite Royal Grafton cup and saucer.

The purple hat below, complete with a purple bird, makes a great combo with a new set I just bought at Homegoods by Gracie China with chintz violets.

Here is a hat fashioned after one of the most famous china patterns ever--old country roses!  This hat has a little lace accent--old country roses is so pretty with a lace tablecloth, don't you think?

Another hat has orange lilies and a monarch butterfly (with yellow accents of course!).  This hat is a perfect compliment to my Anysley Chelsea gold cup and saucer with orange azaleas, which look vaguely lily-like.

Next is a peacock hat matched with a peacock cup and saucer--Royal Albert's Chatelaine.



The last hat I'll be sharing today has green and pink orchids with a green polka-dot bow and hot pink accents.  I've paired this hat with a Royal Grafton teacup and saucer with gold and pink flowers.

Click here for the remaining 6 hats!

 I'm joining these tea parties this week:

  Bernideen's Tea in the Garden

 Tea Cup Tuesday ~ http://www.marthasfavorites.com/
Tuesday Cuppa Tea~ http://www.antiquesandteacups.info/