How-to: Wedding Fascinator

On Monday, I wrote about my wedding hair test run, but what I failed to mention was how long it’s taken me to decide what exactly I wanted to do with my hair for the wedding. A couple months ago, I bought this vintage headpiece on Etsy. It really does look cute, but it clashed with the bouquet I’ve spent months making! Taking matters into my own hands, I decided to try making a hairpiece myself.

Trying to get inspired for the design of this hairpiece, I started monkeying around with some 1.5 inch wide ribbon I had left over from my ribbon wall (I got it at Walmart, but can’t for the LIFE of me find this same product online). Pleating the ribbon and sewing it into a circle, I decided what to do.

Returning to Lamb’s Gate Antiques, the store where I bought my wedding jewelry, I talked with the shop owner about my hairpiece idea. I just needed to find a brooch for it that complimented my jewelry. Lucky for me, the shop owner is amazing and showed me a few options, two of which I bought to experiment with.

Supplies

a few inches of wide ribbon
1/2 yard tulle
1 brooch
iron
ironing board (or a couple folded towels)
scissors
straight pins
pin cushion
hair comb

Directions

Make a base for your hairpiece. This is what I used my pinwheel for, but I found this list of ribbon how to’s that could work for your hairpiece’s base.

Plug in your iron to warm up, and set it at a medium to low heat level. Cut out a piece of your tulle. Mine was approximately 5 inches by 7 inches. The tulle I had on hand wasn’t particularly stiff, so I had to get creative when I decided I wanted to pleat it.

Using straight pins and a pin cushion, I pinned each pleat to the pin cushion as I made it. This process is more easily described through pictures:

Once your tulle is all pleated, pin it to your ironing board (or towels). Carefully iron one half of your pleated tulle, pin the ironed half to the board, and then iron the other half. When you feel like you’ve solidified your pleats, grab one end of your pleated tulle and fan it out, as shown.

Sew your tulle fan to secure its pleats, and sew the fan to your pinwheel (or whatever you made for a base). I sewed my fan to one side of the pinwheel, drew my thread through the center of the pinwheel, and sewed a little more on the back of the pinwheel before knotting my thread. Don’t cut your thread; you’ll need it for attaching the hair comb. Turn your work over and pin your brooch over the stitches on the front side of your hairpiece.

Grab your hair comb, and sew it to the back of your hairpiece. Be careful of the placement when you attach the comb. The direction the comb lays dictates how the hairpiece will sit on your head.

As far as comb placement goes, I guessed the best I could, but I brought my hairpiece to show my stylist to get her input on how it would work in practice. I got a lot of compliments from other stylists at the salon on Saturday, which I’m thinking means I hit a home run! :)