Fascinator and Fashion Show Fun

The Haute Couture Club of Chicago will host its annual fashion show on Sunday, May 7, 2017. It's always a fun event!

What makes the event especially nice is how so many members pitch in to help. I was given a sneak peak of our table decorations, so I thought I would share, tempt, whatever the case may be :)

Now, this is just a small sampling. Each is a full size hat/fascinator. There will be 22 in all. And...even better, everyone who attends the show will have the opportunity to win one, or more!

The hats will be raffled off. Tickets are a steal!!!
$2.00 per ticket
$8.00 for 10 tickets
$15.00 for 20 tickets

So for just a mere $2.00, you could actually take home a custom made piece.  

We are especially excited as we will also showcase the designs of 3 specially chosen fashion design students from The Illinois Institute of Art who will be the recipients of our scholarship awards. 

If you would like to attend the show, ticket information can be found HERE. It's always fun to be around others who sew :)  

Finishing Up the Fascinator/Part 5

The final step in finishing the fascinator is to finish the inside of the cap. 

I simply cut a piece of my fabric, pinned it in place and hand stitched it to the edge. When adding the lining, be sure to not pull it tight as we want to retain the cupped shape of the cap. This will allow it to sit comfortably on the head.

The lining has been stitched down.

The fascinator will not magically stay on the head, so we need to add a way to hold it in place. For a piece like this, I like to use elastic button loops. They can be found in the notions or the bridal area of your fabric store. Be sure to get the loops that are elastic. They come in black, white and ivory.

I run a small bead of Fabri-Tac around the edge and then attach the loops. Once the loops are in place, I then stitch them down along the outside edge.

It's a little difficult to see in the picture below, but the loops are stitched down and there is a stitch inside each loop. This is important because we don't want the loops to lift up once the comb is inserted.

To insert the comb, have the rounded side up and then push the loops over the teeth.

Push the loops to the edge of the comb and flip it over. This comb is just on the edge of being a little too large for this piece, but once it is in the hair, the edges should not be visible. If the comb hung over the edges a little more, I would have cut it in half and sanded the edges. The other loops will be used with bobbie pins. Just slide a bobbie pin into the hair and catch the loop. The fascinator will sit nicely on the head without any fear of it falling off.

When you last saw the fascinator, it looked like this.

It now looks like this.

 I had these feathers. They came on a stem, also from the floral department.

From the side.

The feather pieces were just nestled into the ribbon and around the flowers. I rather like the addition of the extra feathers.

So that's it, not at all difficult. My best advice is to just have fun and enjoy the process.
I won't be wearing this until October, but I'll see about getting a few pictures of it on my head before then. I'm sure you would like to see what it looks like on a real head and not a stuffed one!!! I think you'll be surprised by how it seems to just become a part of the hair and not appear as over the top as it does on the millinery head.
I hope you've enjoyed the posts.

Building a Fascinator/Part 4

My fascinator is just about finished and I am really quite pleased with it. Below, it's sitting on my milliner's head form. This is a view from the front.

 From the back.

 And from the side.

 To try and get a better idea of the colors, I took the piece outside for a few shots.

As I said in the first post, the pieces just all seem to come together. Once I have pieces chosen, I play around with placement until I say, "oh, I really like that." I played around with the flowers and finally got that, "oh I really like that" moment when one of the flowers was somewhat hanging off the edge of the cap.     

Pieces like this are all about layering. A lot can go into a very small space. Once the first flower was glued on, I took my ribbon and and looped it around leaving a small space of the cap open. Once I liked the placement of the ribbon, I tacked it in place by hand. Just a few tacks here and there was all that it needed.  

Next, I placed the other 2 flowers on the cap, nestling them into the ribbon. Once I was happy with the placement of the flowers, I used hot glue to secure them in place.

I made 3 bunches of feathers wrapping a piece of wire around them. Once they were secure, I cut the ends off so that they were even.

I played around with the feathers and decided to hang one from either side and I placed 1 in the middle. All were nestled into the ribbon and then glued in place with hot glue.

Take a look at the picture above and you will see some branch type crystal and wire pieces laying on top of the feathers that are on either side of the cap. Below is an up close picture. Once the fascinator is in the hair, the feathers can get lost, so the small crystals catch light and add interest.  The branches are very easy to make and are just a little more complicated form of the wired crystals that I showed you how to do in this post.

Begin with a long piece of wire. Fold it in half  and twist it for about an 1 1/2". To form the small loop, I used a toothpick. Take a piece of the wire and repeat to one side. Continue down the length of the wire. Once the piece is finished, glue on the crystals just as we did in this post.  

I'm very pleased with the look of the fascinator.  

All that is left do is line the bottom of the cap and add loops and a comb so that it can be secured to the head. I will show you how to finish the fascinator on Monday. 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Rhonda 

Building a Fascinator/Part 3

In today's edition of building a fascinator, we're going to talk about building out the inside of the flowers. Of course, every fascinator is not the same, so this is more about inspiration that you can use while creating     your own personal project. One thing to remember is that we are not building reality, rather fantasy. Especially for this project, I want the piece to sparkle and shine.

So I begin with my basic silk flower that I cut off from the stem. The center is just a typical plastic boring center.

But, as I said, I want sparkle and shine. There are 3 layers to the center of the flower, wired round crystals, wired flat crystals and the glittery pieces. I just don't know what to call them!!! But they work perfectly for the look I want.

Begin by removing the center of the flower. If by chance the petals of the flower have lost their shape, you can always give them a little steam with an iron and then reshape them.

To really create interest, the stamen should have layers. The first layer will be the crystals. As you can see from the picture below, the crystal has been wired.

 Cut a piece of wire and thread the crystal through.

 Simply hold the wire at one end and twist.

 Place a small amount of hot glue in the center of the flower and then push the wired crystal through.  

I used 3 wired crystals in the center of my flower. They are staggered in their length.

Once I have finished with the center of the flower, I will cut off the excess wire.

 For my next layer, I am using the gold/silver glitter pieces. They have been cut to various lengths.

Put a small amount of hot glue on the end of each piece and then place it inside the flower. I usually hold it for a moment or so to allow the glue to hold the piece in place.

Continue until you have the look you desire.

For an added layer, and to catch a little more light, I want to wire some flat crystals. It's really quite easy to do.

Take a piece of wire and wrap it around something that is round. I use a small knitting needle. Hold the ends of the wire and twist the needle around like a propeller until the wire has completely twisted.

The wire will look like this once you have finished. You'll have a perfect little circle to glue the crystals to.

I use Fabri-tac to glue the sequins to the wire. 

Simply put a little glue on a piece of paper and then slide the circle through the glue. Pick up 1 crystal and place on one side and place another crystal on the other side. 

Before I place the wired crystal into the center of my flower, I make a small bend at the end of the wire. Place a small amount of hot glue on the end of the wire and then place in the center of the flower. As you can see in the picture, I had 3 wired crystals in the center of my flower.  

Two of my flowers are together. I may spray a little adhesive to the leaves of the flower and add a little glitter. Maybe. I can make that decision just before I attach the flowers to my base.

The next step will be to assemble the pieces and decide how I would like for them to be arranged on the base. Part of the decision process includes thinking about where you would like the piece to be worn on the head, so keep that in mind whenever you assemble a fascinator.
Tomorrow the piece will be just about finished, so tune back in to see just how it all comes together!

Building a Fascinator, Part 2

There are a number of ways to put a fascinator together. You can just glue things together, stick a comb on the back and call it a day, or you can do a piece that encompasses the true art of millinery. I am no different than anyone else and there are times that I've gone the just stick it all together route, but since I am actually doing a tutorial, I thought we should take the time and make something special. For today's post, we will build the fascinator base.
In order to build the base, you will need some supplies. Millinery supplies aren't as easy to come by as they were at one time. When I first moved to Chicago, there were at least 3 suppliers, now there are none. Although, you can find a lot of the basic supplies at your local fabric store.
You will need;
1. buckrum, this is a heavily sized(basically glue) fabric used for making the frame.
2. millinery wire
3. crinoline, a plain weave fabric, lightly sized, used to cover the wire.
4. batting, I like wool batting, this is used to cover the frame and act as a buffer between the frame and the     fabric that will cover the outside of the frame.
5. Needles and thread

To begin, I have cut a 4" circle of buckrum. Of course this can be any size you like. 4" will be large enough for the base that I would like to have.

 At his point, the buckrum is just a flat disc, but I want it to fit the shape of my head, so I need to incorporate some roundness. To do this, fold the disc into fourths.

At each fold, cut a slit that is about an inch to an inch and a half long.

Because the buckrum is sized, applying heat will adhere the buckrum together when the sections are overlapped. Overlap each section just about a 1/4" and apply just a little heat with an iron.

 The disc will now have a rounded shape.

We need to add some stability to the cap and we will do this with the wire. Measure around the cap to determine how much you will need. I like to bend the wire into the shape that it will be before I begin to sew it to the cap.

Sew the wire to the cap and overlap the ends. You can purchase wire joiners, but it really isn't necessary for a project like this.

 You can see that the wire is sewn around the entire cap, just along the edge.

The next step will be to cover the wire with crinoline. I buy mine by the yard and then cut a bias strip that is 1" wide.

Fold the crinoline in half. Since the crinoline was cut on the bias, we can press the it into a rounded shape before we sew it to the cap.

To sew the crinoline to the cap, simply place it over the wire and then stitch it to the cap, right along the wire edge with a back stitch.

Once the crinoline has been attached, take your iron and steam the crinoline so that it will lay smoothly against the cap.

The crinoline is now laying smoothly against the cap.

Take a piece of batting, like I said, I like to use wool batting, cut a circle that is the same size as the cap.

This will not need to be stitched to the cap. Simply apply some steam and mold the batting to the shape of the cap.

Now take a piece of fashion fabric and cut a piece that will be large enough to have seam allowance.

Pin the fabric in place, making sure that there are no puckers on the top side of the cap.

Stitch the fabric to the buckrum being careful not to allow your stitches to go through to the front side. We will be lining this in time, so all of these stitches and the seam allowance will be covered up.

Now we have a pretty little cap that is ready to be decorated.
It seems like this is a lot of work, but it really isn't. Once you start, I think you'll be surprised by how quickly it all comes together. This is a great project to do in front of the television.

I've taken my flowers off the stem and I also took apart the feathers. Just for fun,I looped my ribbon and took a clump of the feathers and placed the flowers on the cap just to get an idea of how it might all go together.  I'm getting excited as I think it is going to be especially pretty. I like how the purple feathers pick up the color that is inside the center of the flower. I get excited about such small things sometimes!!!

Tomorrow I will show you how to make new stamens for the flowers and I will probably start assembling some of the components.
I did find a few links for millinery supplies in case you are interested in ordering buckrum and wire.
This site has buckrum.
You can find millinery wire on this site.
Be sure to check out your local fabric store as you might be pleasantly surprised by what they have in stock. I hope :)