Robinson Crusoe Hat
of the large leaves of the scrub-oak—a pretty and becoming hat and one that will keep your head cool though you walk under the hottest of noonday suns.
The photograph given here shows one little girl who likes immensely to wear her Crusoe hat, and [Fig. 72] shows just how the hat looks when not on her head.
It won't take more than five minutes to make the hat, but first you must gather the leaves. Ordinary oak-leaves are too small to use; it is on the scrub-oak that you will find them large enough. The scrub-oak grows low, like a bush, and the leaves will be quite within your reach. Like a good shopkeeper, this kind of oak shows his customers leaves of various sizes, but it is the very largest that you must take, and only the ones that are dark-green in color. The pretty new light-green or brownish leaves will soon wilt and curl on the edges, while a hat made of the older, tougher ones will last in good condition several days if left out in the dew at night or kept damp in the house.
The Robinson Crusoe Hat is pretty and becoming.
The number of leaves needed depends upon the size of the leaves and the size of your head. It is well to have at least a dozen and a half; then you can select the best. The largest leaves are not always perfect, but unless very much torn or eaten away by insects they will answer. To gather all you need you will probably have to visit several of the little scrub-oaks.
Fig.73 - Pin the leaves together in this way.
If you are at home when you make your hat, use broom-straws to pin the leaves together; if you are in the woods find some smooth, slender twigs, break them in short pieces, and they will take the place of the straws.
Begin by pinning two leaves together as they are in [Fig. 73]. These leaves are lettered U and V. You see that U is lapped over V and then pinned to it in two places, first near the stem and then through the lower side lobe. The next leaf would be letter W, and W would be pinned to U just as U is pinned to V. Make the stems meet at the top and keep adding leaves, pinning one to another, until the hat is large enough to fit your head comfortably, then pin the last leaf to the first.
Do not make the hat too flat; if you find it flattening out, lap the leaves over more at the bottom. When finished it should be shaped like [Fig. 72].