Fascinators revisited

Halloween is upon us and I thought I would share a couple of posts from last year on fascinators and mini top hats. These would be great for parts of a costume.

First the Fascinators post from last year.

Do you like hats?  Have you seen the hats they wear in England? How about those Fascinators? I am ‘fascinated’ by all things hats.

I love hats. Before I wrote this post I only had a couple of really fun hats. Now I have several miniature hats and Fascinators.

 After spending hours on the internet I got out my supplies and made a few hats and a some fascinators. I will show you a little here about making a fascinator, but I recommend checking out the videos on YouTube that give you detailed instructions. It’s fairly easy and gives you something fun, and different, to wear. I’m going to wear a different one every Sunday, and sometimes during the week.

I found some great stuff in my stash of goodies. The first fascinator was made with a feathered piece that is probably from a bridal headpiece. It was perfect.

First I cut out a piece of cardstock in a simple shape that mimicked the base of the feathered piece. This was the base for the hat.

I cut two pieces of fabric. One larger than the base, about a half inch all the way around. The second piece was the same size as the base.

I'm using a simpler piece to show the steps. I love this purple fabric.

I glued (with white glue) the cardstock base to the center of the larger piece of fabric. Then cut slits in the edges of the fabric around the edges and glued the tabs to the cardstock, with a glue gun.

A hair clip was hot glued on the underside (where the tabs of fabric are glued). This is tricky because you have to keep the clip open while gluing so it will open later. I used a little clip because that’s what I had. But a banana clip can also be used.

Then the smaller piece of fabric was trimmed just a tiny bit to make it fit onto the base. It shouldn’t hang over the edges. It was then glued, with the glue gun, to the base to covered the glued tab side. It covered the glued side of the hair clip. This left me with a nice fabric covered base for my fascinator.

Then it was time for embellishment. This is where you can get as crazy as you want, or as simple as you wish.

For the blog I have used a simple technique just to show the basics. 

I glued on a cool beaded trim. Then covered the edge with some fun rickrack. The rickrack hid the glued ribbon from the beaded trim which I thought looked rough from the folds I got while putting it on a rounded edge. I put a second piece of rickrack toward the center for interest. Trims are great for hiding glue and any happy accidents besides being nice to look at.

Then I glued the tulle on. In this case I tied a knot in it and glued the knot to the center of the fascinator. This one was done.

On the other fascinators I twisted and scrunched the tulle and sometimes tied it with thread where it would be glued down. The thread works great because it holds it together while you glue it down. Trying to hold it together with the hot glue getting on your fingers, well, let’s just say not good.

Ribbons, gold cord, and feathers are great for embellishment.

These are very light weight and will not slip. The clip allows you to place it wherever you want in your hair. I guess you could clip small ones to your lapel, or handbag. But they are great little fashion pieces. I want to make them in lots of different colors to go with everything.

These take less than an hour to make and using hot glue means you can wear it immediately. Make one today for that date tonight.

If you don’t like the hair clip you can glue your fascinator to a headband. I saw some little versions of this idea in the local dollar store yesterday. A headband with a funky flower glued on for $2, for kids.

This might be a fun project for older kids. The hot glue gun needs to be handled carefully. White glue is not ideal because it takes too long for it to dry. It won’t hold the tulle, or the feathers, in place while drying. You have to use clothes pins to hold things down, which could ruin what you are working on. Use a low temp glue gun if you do this with the kids.

I hope this inspires you to have some fun making fascinators. I know some friends at church who are already planning theirs.  I wore the one with the flowers yesterday and it was a hit. People I don’t even know said they loved it. Even a worker at Home Depot said he liked the feathers.

Start fun conversations where ever you go. Wear a Fascinator. 

Next week I’m going to share the mini top hats. I did them at the same time as the fascinators and used the same type of supplies.

I did make a huge mess this week. Feathers were everywhere, hot glue all over my fingers, and boxes of fabric and trims all over the floor. It was wonderful.

Have a great week. Create. And, of course, make it messy.  J

Terri