June gloom is over and it is time to take your wide brim straw hat(s) out of storage to protect your face from the summer sun’s strong rays. Whether you wear your hat for protection from sun and weather while working in the garden or for those long walks on a beach (if you live near a beach, otherwise any location where you spend a lot of time exposed to the sun’s rays), an embroidery design can give your hat a designer touch and maybe even impress some of your friends who frequently ask “What have you been sewing these days?”.

Supplies:
Synthetic-straw floppy brim hat
Embroidery design
Water soluble stabilizer
Water soluble topper
Blue painters tape

Instructions:
1. Locate one of your large embroidery hoops, or maybe your largest hoop.  The hoop shown is an 8” hoop (200mm). This will allow the hat to lay flatter.
2. Hoop water soluble stabilizer.

3. Flatten the crown of the hat and place the brim towards the machine throat so that the hoop has room to move and the hat does not brush up against the machine. The hat will NOT be crunched INSIDE the throat, which likely would cause distortion of the design and possible damage to the hoop driving mechanism.
4. Tape the edge of the hat brim to the stabilizer with painters tape. I tried temporary spray adhesive to hold the brim, but the adhesive was not strong enough. If your hoop is too small, the hat brim will not remain attached to the stabilizer or the stabilizer may tear. A possible substitute for the straw hat is a ‘floppy’ fabric hat that is more flexible (or ask a friend with a larger machine and hoops to join you in a collaboration of effort to make at least one straw hat for each of you).
5. Place water soluble topper on top to prevent stitches from sinking into the ridges of the hat weave. Avoiding the area where the design will be sewn, tape down the topper. 
6. Sew the design.

7. After sewing, trim away the excess stabilizer. Any excess topper should pull off easily.
8. A damp sponge will easily remove any remaining stabilizer.

Depending on the embroidery design, you may want to match the bobbin thread to the top thread because the back of the design will show. This means that you change the bobbin thread at the same time that you change the top thread during the sew out of the design.