How to Make a DIY Butterfly Junk Trucker Hat

Carolyn J. Braden • 4 Minute Read 

How to Make a DIY Junk Trucker Hat

I’ve seen VERY decorated trucker hats trending on Pinterest recently and they sent me back to the early 2000’s and to visions of my grandpa wearing a green one all the time. When the term “junk hat” started to be paired with the trucker hat as a 2025 trend, I understood the vibe. In many cases, less is more, but in this trend, MORE IS IT. Read on to learn how to make a DIY junk trucker hat.

Myself, wearing the hat

What is a Junk Trucker Hat?

Basically, a junk trucker hat is a trendy term applied to a trucker hat design where A LOT of “stuff” is applied. On a walk last night, one of our neighbor’s granddaughters had a pink one on with cute heart patches. Some junk hats in my Pinterest feed have friendship bracelets attached, some have patches all over, some are hand-painted with rhinestones and more.

Get my customizable friendship bracelet birthday banner tutorial you see below in this article here on my website. See the iridescent friendship bracelet-ish Taylor Swift inspired hat I made for my last birthday trip here.

Our mini American Eskimo’s always join us on adventtures

My Junk Hat Inspiration

While I’m not a fan of the term “junk”, I do think it describes the fact that a lot of details are on these hats. I love iridescent colors, so the first one I made, the one I made for this article, I decided to match it to a pastel rainbow sweater ($16.88, Amazon) and pastel rainbow dress / swimsuit coverup I have (I can’t find it on Amazon anymore, but this is a similar maxi dress that comes in many colors).

My sweet husband and myself, 22 years of marriage in 2025

I also made it to wear for my birthday. I added the word JOY to it as it seems to be a theme in my life right now. I plan to make more with some patches I’ve purchased and some plastic spikes. It doesn’t matter how you design yours…just make it the way you want it and it will fit the junk trucker hat trend.

I love my Daisy Mouse Ears, which is perfect for a Disney vacation and saves you money! Get that tutorial here on my website or below in my 1-minute YouTube tutorial below:

When I LOOK at this hat, I have pure JOY in my heart. When others have seen it, they have smiled. Some may think it’s too much, and one thing I know about that is I DON’T CARE. I’m not TOO MUCH and my lifelong commitment to therapy (I’m loving EMDR therapy right now) and mental well-being helps me know that I am me, which is never too much.

I felt pure JOY when wearing this hat

I am filled with creativity and maybe my hat is more “runway” (conceptual) and you can make yours more “lifestyle” (to fit your needs/style). Whatever design you plan to make, it won’t be too much.  

Don’t Want to Make a Hat?

If you don’t want to make a junk trucker hat, I’ve seen them reemerging in many different ways on many people recently. It’s like the early 2000’s all over again! Look at the history of the trucker hat here on Wikipedia. Here are some trucker hats you can buy that we think are cute. You can also find them on Etsy.  

• Von Dutch Trucker Hat (These were all the rage in the early 2000’s and you can still buy them here on Amazon, $55)

• Carhartt Men’s Trucker Patch Cap (Amazon, $24)

• Plain set of trucker hats/no design (create your own for a group using this set of 24 trucker hats on Amazon, $46)

• That’s Hot Trucker Hat (Walmart, $5.49)

• Beach Bum Trucker Hat (Walmart, $9.97)

• USA Trucker Hat (Target, $19.98)

Trend vs. What YOU Want

I don’t believe trucker hats ever fell out of favor because if you like wearing something, you should. I don’t follow trends, but I do feel vibes and the trucker hat is having a vibe right now! My Pop, my grandfather, loved his and he’d be wearing that green thing right now if he were here, trend or not! I do believe this is a fun craft that you could do with a bachelorette party group, for a bride, for a birthday, for a vacation or anytime you want something fun to wear.

Check out my 1-minute video tutorial for this project on my TikTok now or coming soon here and to my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden! 

Now for the project. Here’s what you need to make a junk trucker hat:

• Trucker hat (I got a set on Temu, but you can get a similar set here on Amazon)

• Dual Temp Hot Glue Gun (for embellishments)

• Your choice of embellishments (I got my details on Temu, but many are no longer available, so get butterfly patches here on Amazon and small iridescent butterflies here. I also have these patches as well as a rhinestones kit for this hat and others I plan to make. I used lace tulle and large candy-ish rhinestones and I added one evil eye charm to the top of the hat, which I plan to do with each hat. I also added sparkly letter patches.)

• Scissors

• Liquid Fusion Glue and Wax Tip pencil (if adding rhinestones)

The project supplies

How-To:

First, I set out the materials and figured out some of the placements of the letters and embellishments. I laid them out on the hat to get an overall design concept and then started decorating. Having an idea in mind of what you want the final design to be is a good idea to start with. I matched the embellishment colors to the hat. I wanted it to match my dress, so I used the pink and purple trucker hat and iridescent colors, pink, white, purple and blue and decided I wanted it to say JOY.

I put the glue gun on a low temperature setting and applied glue to the hat where the bill and the hat met. I added two layers of tulle ruffle ribbon, one on top of the other.

Adding the rhinestone letters

Next, I added the letter patches J O Y using hot glue to the center of the hat’s front.

Adding the large butterflies

Then I added a large plastic butterfly to the top and then put the hat on to figure out IF I wanted another one and to see how heavy the one butterfly made it. Adding too many heavy items may be too heavy on your head, so keep this in mind. I decided to add one to the hat’s bill using hot glue.

Adding more butterflies

I added the embroidered butterfly patches in various areas of the hat using hot glue, then I added a small resin butterfly on the top of some of the patches.

Adding a totem for strength

I added an evil eye charm with hot glue under the butterfly on the top of the hat along with a large candy-ish heart rhinestone.

Don’t want an evil eye? Try a cross embellishment instead. This would be good if the person you are making this for needs a little bit more “conceptual” strength, similar to how my cheerleading coach used to put a guardian angel pin on my shoe prior to a competition.

Adding large rhinestones to the hat

I added some more large blue heart rhinestones around the hat with hot glue.

Adding small rhinestones to the butterflies

Lastly, I used a wax tip pencil to add some small iridescent rhinestones to the “body” of each butterfly.

The hat matched my magic wand!

I let everything dry overnight and then I took it with me on my birthday trip to our future neighborhood in Georgia. I wore it on the lake on a pontoon (my birthday gift to myself AND my husband, which I always try to choose something we both like to do and he does too so we both enjoy our birthdays), and felt truly beautiful and happy. I also made these cute matching pipe cleaner “love and light” magic wands to match.

If you loved this article, then we know you’ll love this one too: How to Make a Pipe Cleaner Crown

Carolyn J. Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.