Rad surfer lids transform blank hats

Rad Surfer Lids: 20 Ways to Transform Blank Hats

Everyone loves a surfer lid! They are perfect for covering messy hair, shading the head and shielding the eyes from the sun. We all have a few we keep in rotation.

Surfer with red surfer lidThese hats, more commonly known as trucker hats but also worn by surfers and farmers, are a type of baseball hat and are slightly larger because the front piece is made of foam rather than cotton, with a longer bill, and with mesh inserts for more breathability. They have six triangular pieces that come to a point, held together on top with a covered button.

Surfer lids became popular in the 1980s when trendy brands gave them out for free at truck stops and in feed stores. They went from blue collar to pop culture in the 2000s. Today they are more popular than ever, and the latest DIY trend is to make each hat your own.

Perfect for expressing your own style or personalized gift-giving, these hats can be as unique or functional as you make them. Here are 22 ideas that will have you crafting a trucker hat to match your personality in no time!

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Hand painted hats

Grab some fabric paints and design an image that reflects your personality. This could be in the style of a painting, a pattern or a favorite quote. Here’s a great step-by-step tutorial.

Clean the hat and give it a base coat. Then sketch the design and fill it in. Before long you’ll have a custom creation you can be proud of.  

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Rhinestone hats

Although initially skeptical about this idea – bedazzling went out with puberty and/or the ‘90s, whichever hit first, right? – we were won over this striking example. Grab your cap and your rhinestones and check out this tutorial.

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Patched trucker hats

This one isn’t a real surprise, as patches are very common on surfer hats. But if you have a favorite patch you want to add to a blank cap, some thread, a large needle or a glue gun will give you the custom look you’re after.

You can even have custom patches made if you want to give a few as gifts or have an idea you haven’t seen in production. These are great for small businesses to do their own promotion as well. Find a company to create your patches from your logo and add them to blank hats.

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Machine embroidered surfer lids

Just like hand-painted lids with favorite expressions, a machine embroidered one can sport the quote to suit your mood, too. Grab some blank hats and get them embroidered for your event or with a fun saying just for you or a loved one.

These are great with your monogram. For a little variety, switch up how the monogram is placed, or try different fonts and embroidery colors. These would be fun gifts for friends, making each a little different to match their personalities.

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Hand embroidered hats

This is a separate category because it’s a totally different look than the machine embroidered style and takes a little more time and effort. Take your blank cap, and a few other basic items you probably already have laying around, like a needle, embroidery thread, scissors and a Sharpie.

Make the design first on a piece of paper and then copy it backward into the inside of the hat – the linked tutorial says to do it on the outside, but we don’t want our tracing to show. Then follow the pattern with the embroidery thread and needle. Voila! It does take more concentration than the machine embroidered design because it’s by hand, but as long as it’s a simple design, it’s just a few minutes, and anyone can do it!

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GoPro hat mount

Now here’s a great idea that isn’t part of arts and crafts time! Have you wanted  a GoPro mounted hat for surfing and skateboarding (or any other sport for that matter)? All you need is the blank hat, $8 GoPro tripod mount and some basic tools like the mounting hardware in quarter inch threaded size, plus a wrench, drill and quarter inch drill bit. In under two minutes, you can be set up for some sweet point-of-view shots in everyday activity or extreme sport live action.

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Glitter bomb caps

These can be as feminine or unusual as you want them. We love the idea of taking a blank cap with a somewhat masculine look and adding a bold, glittery logo to keep people off balance. All you need is glitter vinyl and a stencil knife or Cricut machine to make a design.

This is another fun gift item – buy a lot of hats in different colors and paint the same glittery image on. This could be your home state, your country, a simple phrase or maybe your university logo.

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Caps with embellishments and adornments

These fun trucker hats are just blank hats with giant fabric flowers or other types of embellishments added. You can purchase these for $30 or $40 each, but we recommend something even better.

Buy your own blank trucker hat and make those big embellishments into pins. Switch it out whenever the mood strikes. Buy a few of the blank hats if you wish so you can wear your favorites of the pins with different colors. This is another fun way to really personalize the look.

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Hat charms

These are blank caps we fell in love with. Charms are attached to the hat using grommets and simple rings. Purchase a simple blank surfer hat and use a drill and grommet set to create the holes, then insert the rings. You can add charms if you like and switch them out according to mood or your outfit for the day.

These could be great bridesmaid gifts and adolescent girls would love collecting charms to add. For men, simple rings or perhaps fish hooks would make a good look. To customize further, you can change the location or add more grommets.

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Caps with sunglasses notches

We’ve always wondered why no one has ever invented a cap you can wear with bulky sunglasses. To wear both, you have to turn the hat around or wear the cap too loose fitting or high on the head. Problem solved: buy a blank cap and decorate as you wish.

Use a box cutter or some other type of sharp tool to cut notches out of either side of the brim of the cap so that the handles to sunglasses fit with the hat. Cover the cut-away with fabric, so they don’t fray or start to look messy.

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Under lid/over lid/back of hat decorations

While we’re talking about customizing your caps, most of the time we’re only thinking about that foam front panel. Don’t forget you can paint the lid and under the lid as well, and you can embroider the back above the snap close.

That means you can continue your artwork onto the brim of the hat or write your name underneath. On the back, you can write a silly message or monogram your initials. The sky’s the limit when you remember all the surfaces you have to work with.

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Airbrush or graffiti caps

Everyone has fond memories of airbrushed t-shirts from the carnival when they were kids. Now you can airbrush your own blank cap. The nostalgia will get you if you just simply airbrush names, but you can do just about anything you want.

Now, next problem – no airbrush? The good news is airbrushes aren’t terribly expensive, but there are also tutorials on how to replicate the look of airbrush with simple pens, and more tutorials on how to make your own airbrush with a lighter. If your craftiness is just about maxed out, you can use spray paint for similar results!

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Knit and lace hats

This is a favorite! Knit caps are all the rage and have been for years, but once winter’s gone, they’re too heavy. Find a knit or lace embellishment that will fit over the foam front of a blank cap, and you can have the best of both worlds – a beloved knit or crochet look to a weather-appropriate style.

Even better is that with this surfer lid, the attaching is easy due to the mesh back panels. It can be attached in a matter of minutes using a crude embroidery style with contrasting fabric that will look edgy when combining with the feminine knit and masculine hat style.

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Toy storage caps

It’s going to sound crazy, but what started as just a cute toy for kids got us thinking about toy storage. Buy some blank hats and turn them into storage for small toys that always get underfoot, then store each of the hats on a hat rack in the child’s room. You can use them for cars, Legos, play food or any number of small objects. Attach a little Velcro in a way that it will attach to the hat but not inhibit its function for play, and you have a unique, fun storage idea that also keeps their play in control.

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Costume design caps

The sky is the limit on these because they are simply extensions of a child’s costume. Complete your sweet dinosaur or ladybug’s look with a blank cap. These are simple enough that kids can help create these and take pride in their art!

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Human disco ball hats

This is a fun one-time craft that makes your cap look like a mosaic or a mirror ball. A lot of fun to catch in the lights or to sparkle in the sun, this is just a fun playful cap you can make with an old CD, a hammer and some hot glue.

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Mouse ear caps

So, you want to go to Disney World without spending at least a hundred bucks on the traditional mouse ear hats for the whole family? Order some blank caps and make your own mouse ears before you leave. You can customize as much as you want and even add names or decorations for the whole family.

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Caps with bow in the back

This is a fun and simple idea to make a hat look more feminine. If you’re less crafty or in a rush, you can leave the closure on the blank hat and just add the ribbon over the top of it. This can be combined with any of the other decoration ideas and would be especially well-received with a monogram or pin embellishment on the front.

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Tie dye hats

Tie dye is always fun, especially with children. Because we’re working with trucker hats with a mesh fabric, we’ll want to focus our tie dye on the foam and brim of the hat. The plastic mesh on the cap won’t take the dye well, if at all, and will be hard to see in any event, which only makes the color pop on the front even more. Grab some blank hats, rubber bands, dye and squeeze bottles to have a lot of fun and make a fashion statement!

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Rehab an old hat (or a custom cap that didn’t go according to plan)!

Now, of course, you have many hats that are worn out or out of fashion, or you might have a custom that went bad. Check out this tutorial to restore an old hat and give it new life.

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Conclusion

Surfer lids, trucker hats or just a really tall baseball hat with a mesh back – whatever you call them – have a history that began well before they were a fashion item for everyone to mix and match with their outfits. Once upon a time, they were seen on International Harvesters, and now they’re seen mostly on International Instagrams.

As the trucker hat becomes more beloved for its versatility and comfort – make it more unique to match each wearer’s personality or interests. Get yourself as many blank caps as possible, hit the craft store for your materials and become a fashion designer now!