Fascinator

This post is different from past posts since it focuses on not food but my craftiness.

A friend invited me to her 30th birthday party. She's rented out the whole restaurant to have her party. It's a high tea place so we're all suppose to wear hats or fascinator and dress up.

After seeing Kate Middleton's pictures wearing a fascinator, it's now a fashion craze. I'm not into feather only fascinators but really love hats and wanted something fancier than a headband. Here's a pic of a fascinator that I like.





However, hats can be expensive and I'm not willing to pay for something that I'll only use once. So I decided to buy materials to make my own.

I researched on the Internet to get a sense of how to make it. I realized that the feather one is easy but the idea in my mind made me realize I needed a fascinator base. I found a website that showed how to make the base using yogurt container. I thought maybe I'd try to make the base but would check out retail base in case it was cheap.

So first I went to Dressew to get cheap supplies. Dressew is great cos the prices are sooo cheap. They have extensive fabric and button selection. However, it doesn't have sewing patterns so you might need to go to your usual sewing store.

They also have craft stuff at a very good price but definitely you'll still need to go to Michael's for a lot stuff. I'd go to Dresssew first to get cheap material then Michael's for things you can't find.

Anyways, Dressew didn't have fascinator base so no choice but to make my own. This website shows how to make the base using a yogurt container. (Yogurt Container Fascinator Base) Ingenious since it's cheap.

Well when I was starting to make the base, I found out that I didn't have a yogurt container. I thought about going out to buy yogurt and putting the yogurt aside. But decided against it and just used yogurt/plastic container lids since I had lids but no containers.

How I Made My Fascinator:

I took the yogurt container lids and measured if they were 3". They were 4".



I decided just to cut the rim but leave it at whatever size it was. I'll just have a bigger base.



Then I cut slits on opposite sides of circles.



And connected the slits together and staple the slits. In the instructions given, it should be curved but mine's flat. I realized that since I didn't use the yogurt container which would already have curvature, it will make resulting base not curved.



So I tried to roll it up but really it made no difference.



It seemed to curve but it was temporary. I didn't care cos I saw other homemade fascinator base that were flat and it didn't matter to me.



Here are the materials I used. I have feathers, flower, ribbon, tulle and satin. I also bought a cheap hair comb which is not in the picture



I took the satin and cut a piece to cover the fascinator base. I wanted to use velvet but when saw the price, changed my mind. Satin tends to fray and even though the cloth would be glued, so I decided to burn the sides to prevent fraying. As you can see on the left side, it burned a little too much!!



It was hard to cover the base and make sure it was smooth since the base was circular. Plus I didn't want the glue to stick on the cloth. That made the bottom messy and looked very amateurish.



But the top part was very nicely done with no visible flaws. Also notice no stains? That's because I only used glue on the bottom and none on top. This material stains very easily so had to be very careful.



Next I attached the comb. I had to constantly remind myself that the comb teeth had to face my face in order to wear it properly.



Next I decided I wanted a birdcage veil. I really love birdcage veils as it gives an old style elegance to the outfit. As I'm researching about fascinators, I notice that birdcage veils are all the rage for brides so many instructions give were by brides. Here the site that I found most helpful with birdcage veils.

First I created the tulle according to the diagram given. It didn't have measurements so I found it a bit frustrating and stalled by eating the freshly made Farmhouse French Bread I made (to view this post, click here

I realized that measurements could not be given since it depends on the veil size you want. So I cut the tulle according to the instructions. I made it bigger because I thought that I can always reduce it's size as needed.



Then I weaved a same colour thread in and out of the tulle's holes. This was very tedious, especially with such a big piece.



Then I gathered the tulle by pulling my thread to make the veil. It was too big!!! I think if it was a bride veil, it would have been ok but not for my fascinator. I had to take it apart, recut and reweave. The pic below is the larger veil.



After my veil was done, I sewed this blue rose on it. You can see the veil is smaller.



Then I planned how I wanted my feathers to look. I glued the feathers together. The black feathers are from ducks and the blue spotted ones are pheasants. I actually wanted different feathers but Dressew didn't have the ones I wanted and I wasn't willing to go to another place just to buy feathers.



I attached the veil and rose on my fascinator base by sewing it on. Glueing is fine as well but wasn't sure if my glue was strong enough to hold the weight. I then tied the feather on with a ribbon. You can see the back where I tied the rose and ribbon together.



Here's my finished product.






Here's me wearing the fascinator.






A close-up of me and the fascinator.






At the Tea Party:
My name tag at the tea party... Crown Princess... Should have been Queen!!!



Pictures of the food. There were 3 types of scones, many sandwiches and yummy desserts. It was really good. Unfortunately we started eating before I took the pictures.






This chocolate thing was yummy.




Then halfway, they brought more food. Panna cotta, shortcake and not sure what the rest were.



This picture is the after affects of high tea at one table.


The place is called Adonia. Their website is here. I'm not blogging this place because I was a guest and didn't order so don't know their pricing.

Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed making the fascinator and it was so easy. It cost me $20 to buy all the materials but because I didn't use all the feathers, the satin, the tulle and the hair comb, I think this cost less than $10 to make.

I would definitely make more to sell or teach a class since it's so easy.

The people that saw my fascinator asked me where I bought it and I told them I made it. Many couldn't believe it!!!!

Also, the tea party was "simply brilliant!" Thanks for inviting me and Happy Birthday, Fungus!!

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