Make a Sandwich Hat with Augustus Wild Boar
There is nothing in the world that Augustus Wild Boar loves more than sandwiches! Well, except for his friends, of course – he loves them the most. But sandwiches are very important to him, as all his best pals know quite well.
One day Augustus was polishing off a pickle sandwich at a picnic with Ella Toad, and listening politely as she explained her latest sewing project – a hat shaped like a big ripe juneberry. (All the Hazel Village animals agree that a grand chapeau is the best way to show your appreciation for something you love.)
"You know," Ella remarked thoughtfully, "Maybe you should make a great big sandwich hat!"
Augustus gasped, and almost dropped what was left of his lunch. "Do you really think I could?" he asked Ella.
"Of course!" she replied. "And I will help you out. What sorts of things should it have on it?"
This was a big question for Augustus, who has quite a broad palate for sandwich fixins'. He pondered for a moment, then declared, "It should have soft fluffy bread, juicy tomato slices, crunchy lettuce, and tasty cheese."
"That we can do!" replied Ella. "I should have all the supplies we need at home."
The friends hopped up and set off toward Ella's houseboat. As they skipped along the lakeshore, Augustus was still thinking about his list of ingredients. "My, that sounds nice," he thought to himself. "Perhaps after we make my hat, we could make some more sandwiches for eating."
If you would like to make a sandwich hat just like Augustus's, here is what you will need:
- Craft felt in sandwich colors
- Green ribbon (optional - you could also use green felt)
- Lacy ribbon of some sort, or a very small doily
- A ribbon or string for the strap
- Brown and red embroidery floss
- Stuffing
- Scissors
- Sewing needle
- Sewing pins (optional but helpful)
Keep in mind that this craft has great potential for variation according to your own sandwich preferences. For instance, you could use dark brown felt to make pumpernickel bread; or perhaps cut your felt into circles and make a bagel sandwich. You could also make any ingredients you would like. The sandwich options are limitless!
First, make a symmetrical bread shape by drawing it on a folded piece of paper and cutting it out. Then trace the shape onto some cream-colored felt and cut out two pieces.
These bread pieces are about 2.5" wide each. Cut a long strip of toasty brown felt, about 1/2" wide, to be the crust.
Thread your needle with three strands of brown embroidery floss. You will be using a blanket stitch to sew your sandwich bread – watch this quick video tutorial to learn it!
Start sewing at one of the rounded top corners. As you can see in the photo below, we left a little bit of the brown felt un-sewn on the starting end – make sure to do the same.
When you have sewn all the way around your bread, you will need to join the ends of the crust. To do so, pinch both ends so they face inwards like this:
The crust ends will be sticking into the middle of the bread. Sew them together with a few stitches to create a seam, and trim them so they are the same length.
Now you will sew on the back half of the bread. We found it easiest to start at a bottom corner. Use a blanket stitch again, and sew almost all the way around.
When you have only a small gap left to sew, it is time to stuff your bread. We chose not to stuff ours too much, so that it would stay somewhat flat, but you could make yours very plush if you would like. You can use the eraser end of a pencil to help push the stuffing in.
Sew up the last little bit and tie a knot to finish your first slice of bread. Then repeat these steps to make a second slice.
Augustus found sewing his bread slices was very soothing; likely because he thinks bread is quite comforting, and also the felt was nice and soft.
Now it's time to make the fixins'!
Cut two squares of cheese from yellow felt, a little bit larger than the size of your bread. Fold each square and cut semicircles to create holes in a random pattern. (You won't really see the middle of the cheese once your sandwich is assembled, but nonetheless it is fun to make proper swiss slices.)
Next up, tomato slices! Cut two semicircles of red felt, one slightly smaller than the other.
Place the smaller half circle on top of the bigger one with the flat edges aligned. Using all six strands of red embroidery floss, sew a running stitch along the inside arch. You can learn the running stitch in this video tutorial.
Next, place your cheese and tomato slices on top of one slice of bread. This bread will be the bottom of your sandwich. (If one of your bread slices turned out nicer than the other, use the less-nice one for the bottom.)
Make sure that the fixins' are sticking over the sides of the bread so they will show.
To attach them, sew up through the bottom of your bread slice. A few stitches on each piece will hold them in place just fine.
Next up, lettuce! This tutorial uses green ribbon to create extra voluminous, fresh, and crunchy-looking lettuce. Augustus was a little bit intimidated by this method of making lettuce, but Ella encouraged him to give it a try and he found that the end result was worth the extra effort. But if you would prefer a simpler method, you can certainly just cut a few pieces of green felt with wiggly borders and layer them right on top of the tomato.
Here is our recommended lettuce method:
Pin the end of the green ribbon onto your other slice of bread.
Fold the ribbon back and forth on itself to create loops, and pin them into place. The edges of the loops should stick a little bit off the edge of the bread.
Sew the loops in place without going all the way through the bread: poke your needle through the ribbon into the top of the slice, then poke it back up through the surface. These stitches will not be visible, so don't worry about making them too neat - they just need to hold the loops of ribbon in place.
Working corner by corner, sew the ribbon around the circumference of your bread.
Now it's time to attach the two pieces. Once again, sew up through the bottom of your bottom slice of bread. Tuck the needle through the inside of the top slice, and sew back down into the bottom slice. Repeat to make a few stitches for security, then pull tight and tie off on the bottom.
You now have a sandwich! There are just two more steps needed to make it into a hat.
Augustus likes to observe the niceties of teatime, so naturally he thought it was important for his sandwich hat to have a doily. To achieve this, sew a running stitch along one side of some lacy ribbon.
Then pull on the thread, and the lace will gather up into a ruffle.
Sew the lace trim around the bottom of your sandwich, then sew a ribbon across the middle. We used the same green ribbon from our lettuce.
Tie a bow under the chin, and your sandwich hat is complete! HUZZAH!
Augustus was so excited about his new hat that he could not sit still. "It's PERFECT!" he cried, jumping up and down. "Thank you for helping me, Ella!"
"It was my pleasure!" Ella replied. "Now you have the perfect accessory to wear for special occasions."
"Special occasions?" said Augustus, sounding confused. "I'm going to wear this every day!"
Augustus Wild Boar is a limited-edition animal! Shop our visiting friend now before he departs the Village for his next adventure.
Thank you for reading, friend! Did you make this craft at home? Send us a photo or tag us on social media @hazelvillage! For any questions, please email us at hello@hazelvillage.com.
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