Make the Harry Potter Sorting Hat at home

This tutorial shows you how to make a Sorting Hat from the Harry Potter Movies using chicken wire. This sorting hat is a great idea for Harry Potter Party Prop or as a Halloween Party Decoration.

What you need

Chicken Wire
Newspaper
1 yard Cotton Cloth
White Wood Glue or PVA Glue
Pliers
Brown Paint

Instructions

Start creating your hat by manipulating chicken wire or garden wire into a basic hat form. We didn’t want to wear our hat so we stuffed the wire with scraps of bunched up newspaper for stability.

Once you are happy with the basic form it is time to get messy. Soak your fabric into a bowl of white craft glue with a small amount of water mixed into the glue.

Place a drop cloth or lots of paper under your work area as it will get very messy. You want to add just enough water so the glue is thinned out and not like water. Dip your fabric into the glue. Squeeze out any excess glue and water,  then wrap it around the hat form.

We created a face using some rolled up newspaper lumps which we tucked in as we went along. You have plenty of time to work the shape so don’t rush. Fold in the fabric make it look natural and authentic.

Let it dry in 1-2 days.

You can paint it with brown paint. Once the brown paint was dried we used some black/grey paint on a dry brush to highlight the facial features.

If you want you can add a baby monitor inside and have a talking hat too.

What do you think?