Fascinator Tutorial-Part 1!

Hello everyone,

 

As promised I am back today with part one of my fascinator tutorial! :)

 

I gave you a nseak peak yesterday but here it is again, this is the fascinator shape/type Ill be working through with you:

 

 

This is a fascinator which has a buckram (a type of stiffened woven fabric) base though many fascinators are made completely from sinamay (the more traditional light more loosely woven stiffened fabric).

 

So here are a list of materials you will need:

 

- Some card or paper

- A pen/pencil

- A few pins

- Scissors

- A ruler

- Some buckram or other stiffened fabric for your hat base

- Some fabric of your choice for coating and lining your hat

- A length of millinery wire (or craft/DIY may suit the purpose- you can experiment with whatever you have :)

- Thread and a needle (some beeswax to pull your thread through is optional)

- Uhu glue , Copydex glue or Bostik multipurpose craft glue. All will do the job :P

- Some decoration of your choice e.g. feathers, brooches etc.

 

And now here is how to begin:

 

1. First it is good to draft up/drape your hat pattern in paper first. This shape of hat starts with an oval, which two darts are then taken out of, one either end, to create the final shape. You can go with any size oval you like but here is the piece I cut out with the dimensions written on it so you can follow this exactly if you wish, or draft up something similar:

 

 

2. Make sure you have cut up into the 5cm at either end as these are the places you will now be overlapping to work out the size of the darts you want to create your shape:

 

3. Try pinning and overlapping by different amounts until you are happy with the shape- but make sure the darts are both the same size (and that the overlaps run the same- towards the back) otherwise your hat could look lopsided :P There is no set measurement for the size of the darts- just whatever you think creates a nice shape! (I found 2cm worked well for me :).

 

4. But whatever works well make sure to take a pencil and mark where your overlaps run until so that when you undo your pattern, you will see the two pencil lines and can add 1.5cm seam allowance- the seam allowance tapers to nothing at the point of the dart though. If this sounds confusing hopefully the following picture of the final hat pattern will clear it up for you :):

 

5. Use your finalised pattern (above) to cut out your buckram base for your hat:

 

6. You can the take this piece and overlap the darts (by the 1.5 cm seam allowance) and the oversew them down using your needle and thread:

 

7. Next cut a length of millinery wire long enough to go around the base of your fascinator plus a few cm overlap.

 

8.  Then sew your wire just on the inside of your base using a blanket stitch. When you get back round to where the wire overlaps lay one end just under the other and work your blanket stitches closer together to hold the ends of the wire in place securely.

 

9. Your hat base should then look like this:

 

10. Next cut your outer fabric- you do this using the same pattern as you did for your hat base- but add 1.5cm all the way around it as seam allowance and don't cut out the sections for the darts!!! Just use tailors tacks or chalk etc.. to mark the ends and point of the darts so you know where to sew the darts!:

 

 

11. sew in the darts- on the wrong side of your fabric of course and then press them towards the back:

 

12. Then take your hat base and snugly fit your outer hat fabric covering over the top. It may seem a bit awkward or like it won't go at times but I assure you it will- you want a nice smooth snug fit- not bagginess! :P

 

13. Then take your Uhu (or other glue) and stick down your 1.5cm seam allowance all the way around the inside of your hat. Then leave it for a short while to dry of course :)

 

 

That is it for the first half of the tutorial but I will return shortly with the other half which covers decorating you hat and adding a lining and hair loops.... see you soon!

 

Bye xXxXx

 

P.s. if you have any questions about any of the materials, stages or things that seem unclear I will be happy to answer or try to explain as best as I can :)

 

Bye xxx

 

More hattery :)

Hello everyone,

 

I hope your first few weeks of 2015 have been as fun and amazing as you wish the year to continue :)

 

I am now back at college, so back to more a bit more (mostly enjoyable :P) hecticness. Which Is why I was glad I made some more progress on my blue Hat I started on new years- before I had to hit the books again :P

 

I managed to get the lace pieces sewn on that I chose as my decoration:

 

 

You may recognise the lace motifs... they are from one of the dresses I picked up from the costume store sale a while ago :P I really like the pattern of the lace and have found so many things so far that it compliments, including the blue velvety fabric of this hat (which is actually from a spare curtain :P).

 

I also managed to squeeze in the time to make this little fascinator of my own design:

 

 

The main fabric coating this fascinator was another of my costume store bargains- they have all come in so useful! The leopard print fabric was from a shirt I didn't really need any more and I got the little metal charms when I was in the IOW one time. It was fun designing my first fascinator- From materials and a shape which seemed quite crazy it came out with the sophisticated but quirky factor I was aiming for I think :P I am happy... now I just need an event to wear it to! Haha :-)

 

Speak to you all again soon,

 

Bye XxXxX

More wig-iness!

Hi everyone,

Just  quick a quick post again today (I promise they will get longer soon!). I just wanted to show you the last couple of the wig styles I worked on last week in college :)

First up is the style I designed for the character titania (the fairy queen) for Shakespeare play midsummer nights dream.  Well all designed and worked on a wig for different characters so by the end of the day it was like we had the whole casts hair :p

I was really proud of mine as hair is not something I am user talented at and before starting the week I never could have imagined I would be able to achieve anything like it from just a straight hair wig!:

And then here are a couple of shots of the finger waves me and a friend managed to do:

They were a super popular style in the 1920s and another thing I an proud to say I can know do!

As promised I will bring more info on how these wee achieved if anyone fancies potentially sporting one if these styles :p

I hope you are all well

bye xxx

WIGS!

Hi,

This is a really quick post as it has been too long since I posted but I don't quite have time to go into all the detail I want to.. yet! As I mentioned last time I post this week I am working on wig dressing in college. It is such a new and exciting experience for me as seriously I have 2 styles hair down or hair up in a ponytail- I know nothing else :p

But look at the fancy styles I have been being taught how to create:

I will shortly bring you more information on how these looks well created, as well as info on the rest of the cool hair related stuff I learn the rest of this week too!

Speak to you all soon,

Bye xoxoxo

And the winner is...

Hi,

The entries are now closed for the vintage/antique style giveaway and the winner, as chosen by random number generator is.........

MEL MAKES!

Congratulations Mel, you are the lucky winner of all these goodies!:

I have left a comment on your blog but if you could email your address to me at iitki@hotmail.co.uk then I can get your prize on its way to you ASAP :)

As usual don't worry if it wasn't you this time as there is lots of good stuff in the pipeline!

See you all soon for the news of the 2nd half of my bridal course! :-)

Byeee xxx

Vintage/antique style GIVEAWAY :D

Hi, 

As promised  I bring you the latest giveaway! :) This one kind of has an antique/vintage style to it:

So you could win:

-A set of little house shaped buttons

-A length of dotty ribbon

-A pretty set of note cards and envelopes

-6 flat back gold and silver, metal, butterflies and flower charms

-And last but not least 3 lace motifs for you to sew on whatever you want :-)

Now for the details:

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment below. Make sure I have some way to contact you e.g a blog address or ravelry name- in case you win!

If you want a whole 2!!!! extra entries though just post a link to my Etsy shop or my blog on your blog or Facebook or Twitter (etc...) page (make sure to link to your post below :)

Anyone, any age, anywhere can enter and the giveaway will close, and winner will be announced on Friday the 19th of September. 

Good luck!!!!!

I hope you like the giveaway and I will speak to you all again soon to tell you about my wedding dress course :D

Byeee xxx

Saving my mum's vintage dress

Hi,

 

Today I bring to you my latest project....

 

A while ago now, when me and my family were on holiday in the IOW my mum bought this beautiful original 1930/40s dress in a vintage shop:

 

 

It fit her really well and looked nice however, when we got it home we realised it had some quite bad watermarks/staining on it :( They hadn't shown up in the shop (we hadn't been lied to, just nobody had noticed them), but are clearly visible in daylight:

 

My mum was really disappointed and hasn't been able to wear the dress due to the visible staining on the bodice and the main stain (pictured above) on the skirt. My mum tried getting it dry cleaned- they tried their best but nothing could be done :-( Again I was sad because my mum really liked the dress and it cost her £125; though this is not extortionate, it is still quite expensive, and definitely is an amount you want to get some enjoyment from.

 

My mum stashed the dress in the wardrobe, then yesterday we were watching a programme on TV called 'This old thing' which was all about vintage clothing and refashioning it. We decided to get the dress out and give it one last attempt to try to make it wearable. I looked at it, assessed it, thought about hard etc... and then I came up with this idea:

 

A central panel of matching colour scheme purple crepe type fabric (fabric from one of the bargains I got in the costume store!). My mum thought that sounded good as she wanted to preserve the dress (so not cut into it) but also to cover all the stains on the bodice and skirt of course- and the panel can do both! Also I knew I had to come up with a solution that was fairly simple in style so as not to overpower the rest of the details on the dress or make it look 'too much'. The simple, clean shape of the panel should be perfect.

 

I started work on it today- I have got the shape tacked onto the dress and the bodice and skirt panels cut out and ready to be seamed together- I will work more on it tomorrow and will of course bring you lots of pictures when the transformation is complete. I really hope it looks gorgeous and I know it would make my mum really happy if she did love it and could wear it- she had kind of written it off after the dry cleaning didn't really work out. I have made it my mission to SAVE MY MUMS DRESS!!!! :0)

 

Hehe, I have also got some alterations I am working on for my next door neighbour too, I need to finish those of tomorrow as well- I will be a busy bee! But in-between I can relax with dad and brother who have both happened to have the day of work/school and we are getting subways, a mcflurry and playing tennis at the park. So that will be nice. I had a good day today as well- me and my mum saw the importance of being earnest at the theatre and had cupcakes from Sweet couture. Mmmmm... I am craving another one now!

 

Lol, I better get off to bed ready for my busy day tomorrow,

 

Speak to you all again soon,

 

Bye XxXxXx

Corsets and chocolate :)

 Hi,

Last Friday I managed to finish my corset!!! I was so happy as I though I would just fall short because I had a lot of hand sewing over the eyelets to do but I managed to really get into the flow of it and got it all done :D Here is my finished corset, the mannequin is not quite the right size so you will have to some imagining to think what it would look like on my actual model who it is made to measure for:

 

 

It is fully boned a the front and laces up at the centre back and the straps are off the shoulder.

 

I am so happy my 17th century corset is done :-) It was a lot of work but I am very proud of it and enjoyed making it. Next is onto the wheel farthingale (period skirt supporter) to go with it!

 

I am off on my Easter break now though and my Brothers Birthday is coming up really soon. I wanted to make him something for his birthday but something different to the kind of things I normally make. I also wanted it to be really fun so I came up with the idea for a Domo Pinata!:

 

 

I made it from a cereal box, 4 toilet roll tubes, some red and white card and painted it all.

 

I have filled it with lots of tasty sweets:

 

 

Hehehe :)

I hope my brother likes it and I hope it holds up to a little bit of whacking before it breaks open :P

 

In my final bit of news for this post I finished the first of  the different bridal headbands I have begun designing and making recently. I am really pleased with the finished result:

 

 

I made the little ribbon roses and I put together the middle piece using the lace applique technique onto a fine net/gauze type material. There are little diamante in the centre of the flowers which sparkle in the light (you can just about see them in the photo :). I thought the peacock feather looked pretty and added a bit of interest. It is quite bohemian and vintage in style. I am still working on the others so it will be interesting to see what style/vibe they give off when they are finished.

 

I hope you are all very well and that you are having a good week so far :o) I am very excited for tomorrow as my brother is off school so we are going to the local park to play tennis then he is treating me to a Costa Coffee (my favourite!!!) lunch- sandwich, cake and everything! So generous! I treated him to a cadbury's creme egg mcflurry today- very tasty, I do recommend :P

 

Speak to you all again very soon,

 

Bye XxXxXxX

Getting ready for uni!

 

Helloo,

 

For several weeks I have been getting all the bits and bobs I need for Uni like pots, pans, books, course supplies and..... clothes! :D Haha, I have enjoyed doing my clothes shopping, choosing lots of lovely outfits to wear.

 

I wanted to show you a picture of my most special, glam, saving-for-a-special-occasion dress that my mum and dad got me as an early birthday gift:

 

 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT! I was drooling over it in the shop and said to my mum one day I will wear a dress like that! Then the next day she surprised me by bringing me one home :D It is sooo beautiful and it fits me perfectly :-) I am so happy to have it in my wardrobe ready to bring out for that perfect occasion! (and to put on and walk around in it in front of the mirror when I want to, lol :p) 

 

As my college is about 1/2 hour walk from my uni home I planned on using my bike some days and having a nice little cycle there instead. As another early birthday present my dad helped me do up my bike (which I haven't used in years!):

 

 

I got a cute basket :3:

 

And my dad made me a wooden vintage style crate to go on the back to give me even more carry space. I chose to put 'Gutermann & Co' the sewing thread makers so we painted it on the side and on the other side I want to paint 'Finest sewing thread' in an old fashioned style font to complete the look :)

 

Tomorrow me and my dad are taking some of my stuff up to my Uni home so that will be fun.

 

In other news here are my latest innocent smoothie hat creations:

 

 

An American style pretzel hat :D- I am going to make more in different colours.

 

And some little flowery hats that remind me of baby hats:

 

 

 

I used pastel self striping yarn and I think it gave quite an interesting effect.

 

I am off to carry on with more now, and check I have packed all my stuff properly for tomorrow!

 

See you soon,

 

Bye XXX

Vintage couture sewing techniques- day 3, 4 and 5

Hi,

 

Today I bring you some pictures of what I learnt on the rest of my Vintage couture sewing techniques course :) I can't believe that today was the last day, it went so quickly, probably because I was having so much fun!

 

On day 3 (Wednesday) we spent the whole day- over 4 hours (!!!!!) just making this special curved seam pocket. There were so many stages involving different types of hand sewing due to it being couture. The outcome was worth it though, it is the most lovely pocket I have yet seen :P

 

Here is a work in progress picture:

 

And here is the finished project- the pattern lines up all over once constructed, that is another reason it takes so much care and time:

 

 

Day 4 we did this decorative technique sampler including trapunto quilting (the very padded one- padding is inserted after sewing), normal quilting, roleau, different types of applique, openwork and encrusting (the dark blue one- inserting and patch/shape of fabric into the background fabric):

 

And today- the last day, we did some scalloping:

You can use it around hems or cuffs or down the front of fancy garment :)

 

 

And we did some lace applique, hand tucks, machine tucks, a French seam and hand rolled and pin tuck hems:

 

Hehee, yes all of those things are on the piece of fabric above. It is surprising how many techniques you can try on one piece of fabric :0)

 

And finally we tried some different couture finishings/fastenings:

 

It will be so weird not getting up and going to learn more tomorrow, though I only have to wait a couple of weeks and then I am going on my millinery course :D And next week I am going to practice some more techniques at home.

 

I made this pincushion for the course tutor as he was really nice to us all :)

 

I put a T on it for his name, he really liked it so I was pleased, he even started using it today! :o)

 

Just in case any one is interested he runs quite a few courses in different places here is his website- http://www.vonnordheim.co.uk/

 

I hope you all had a good week too,

 

See you soon,

 

Byeeee XXX