I made this hairpiece/fascinator for my friend’s wedding. She was one of my bridesmaids and really liked the ones I made for my wedding, so with her input on styles and colours she liked, I came up with this:

She looked stunning on her own, but I like that I had a small part to play in the look of her big day 🙂

She asked if I would also make one for her mom as a surprise, though without the veil part. Here is a shot with both. Such a sweet idea.

Supplies:

• 2″ x 25″ piece of fabric (I used tightly-knit jersey material. Finer or more easily fraying fabrics may require you to double up the material, meaning a 4″ x 25″ piece folded lengthwise)
• scrap piece of same fabric about 3″ x 3″
• embroidery thread and needle with large enough eye to accommodate
• tulle for veil
• broad ribbon (at least 2″ wide and ideally not satin) for leaves
• artificial stamens (available at most craft stores)
• hot glue gun
• clear-drying fabric glue
• Swarovski or other glue-on crystals (optional)
• clear-drying tacky glue (if adding crystals)
• alligator-style clip or other hair clip

Step 1:

Take the strip of fabric and fold it in on itself repeatedly without overlapping the folds (see image below). Then hand sew along the two sides as shown using a basting stitch. Knot off at the far right (as in image) and not at left. Take ends of string and gather fabric. You will see the rose shape form. Now tie off end. Arrange rose shape as you would like and use hot glue to tack in place. Poke stamens through. Now hot glue rose shape in place as desired. Let dry.

Step 2:

To create one leaf (you will need to repeat this step for multiple leaves), cut four pieces of ribbon long enough that two pieces side-by-side form a square-ish shape (exactitude is not crucial). Lay two pieces one positioned above the other side-by-side (like the image on the right below) on top of cellophane or other piece of smooth plastic you don’t mind potentially getting glue on (paper will come away with the glue one dried, ruining your leaf). Apply a uniform, thin layer of fabric glue all over the upwards facing sides of both pieces of ribbon. Place the other two pieces on top, side-by-side (like the image on the left below). Press together and let dry. Basically you will have a ribbon and glue “sandwich” with the “spines” (where the ribbons meet) being perpendicular for stability.

One your “sandwich” is dry, you can draw on a leaf shape and cut it out (see image below).

Step 3:

Run fabric glue along raw, cut edge of ribbon leaf to stop fraying. Dab off excess. Let dry.

Step 4:

Position and hot glue leaves and tulle in place on back of rose.

Step 5:

Sew alligator clip to fabric square. Position on back of rose and hot glue on. Trim as needed (rose will obviously not be a perfect square shape).

Step 6:

Use clear tacky glue (apply with a toothpick) to add crystals if desired.

TIP: don’t worry if tulle doesn’t lay exactly right. That’s what steam and hairspray is for 😉