British Tea Party: Part Two…the Hats
Missed Part One of the Tea Party? Click here.Of course it was THE WEDDING that inspired the wearing of all the fabulous hats that my guests & I wore at my tea party the other day. I had encouraged everyone to wear their best rendition of a British hat or fascinator, and they did not disappoint!Most of us chose to make them ourselves, which made them even more flamboyant & fabulous.
I set up a little jar to contain votes for every guest to vote on the hat or fascinator they liked best, & the First & Second place winners turned out to be Holly & Jodi, both of whom had created their own designs!Here’s Holly’s:
And Jodi’s:Holly received a “Taste of England” package as the prize for first place, & Jodi received a flower pin made by my mom.Here are a few other fashionable ladies seen at the party:{My mom wearing a vintage hat covered in all kinds of flowers}{Abby, wearing one I made that was similar to mine}And some others:
And here’s a closer shot of my own fascinator:If you decide to have a British Tea Party, you’re going to need some fashionable headwear, so here’s a little tutorial on how I made my fascinator:I started out with this as my inspiration from London milliner, Olivia Roat, whom I found here.Notice the price tag of £215, which is roughly $350. (Yikes!) Mine cost roughly $4, which is around £2, if anyone’s interested. So there ya go.For my fascinator, I got a little resourceful & actually used a shoulder pad from some old jacket I had way back when. Half of you are too young to even remember when people wore shoulder pads, but I think you can still find them in craft stores or even in some vintage blouse at a thrift store. And some of you may still have something in your closet with shoulder pads, who knows!But, I took the shoulder pad & cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover it & wrap around the edge a little. Then, I got busy with the glue gun & secured it all around, making a couple of folded pleats with the bulk as I got back around to the start.At this point, it looked kinda like half of a bikini top, which means you could probably use one of those, too!After that, I snipped the bloom off of a very large faux flower &, again, used the glue gun to attach. I also cut off a couple leaves & stuck them in where I wanted them.Then came the tulle, which I just bunched together & tucked it with a few more dots of glue. The last easy step is to glue it onto the headband. I chose a dark headband that would just sort-of disappear when I wore it. I put the headband on my head, figured out where to position the headpiece, removed the headband while holding the pieces together, & then glued it to the headband on that spot.That was it! The entire project only took about 15 minutes.And did I mention how much fun it was to wear?Have you been looking for an excuse to wear one of these? Do what I did & throw a tea party! Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for the Party Favor Kit I told you about, and stay tuned for more on the tea party coming up this week.I’m linking up my fascinator to some of these parties!
Sourkraut
May 17, 2011 @ 12:43 pm
Those hats are all brilliant! Thank you so much for the tutorial too. I think I'd need a special occasion to wear one but I love how those fascinators look.
Lauren Elizabeth
May 17, 2011 @ 12:45 pm
My bridal show is going to be a princess tea party just because I wanted an excuse to wear a fascinator! Thank you for the tutorial!
Olive Cooper
May 17, 2011 @ 12:55 pm
Your fascinator is fascinating. I really did not know what they were called so thanks for the information.
Sherry
May 17, 2011 @ 2:46 pm
All three of my daughters LOVE to wear the huge flowers or feathers in their hair. They're going to love this how-to. I just pinned the link to your fascinator on my Pinterest! Thanks!
Stef
May 17, 2011 @ 4:24 pm
Julie, Thank you so much for the tutorial and the inspiration!! I'm in the middle of planning a little tea party for my youngest daughter's second birthday and after the WEDDING, I totally wanted to make hats for us all, but I had no idea where to begin. This is going to be so much fun! Thank you!!!
Erin Morgan
May 17, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
This is such a great idea!! I think I will have to throw a tea party soon (come for the hats, stay for the tea) – thank you for the inspiration!!
Jayna Rae
May 17, 2011 @ 10:24 pm
What lovely hats. Thanks for the tutorial.
Glenda
July 17, 2012 @ 11:04 pm
I am so glad I ran across your blog. I was searching hats for a tea and somehow found you. The Fascinator hats are so very cute. For our Sunday School ladies tea we are to decorate a hat. I made mine using your great tutorial. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Here is a link to my blog and pictures. Mine is not a cute and professional looking as yours, but it sure was fun to make. Glenda http://craftingbygigi.blogspot.com/
Lauren Avila
March 27, 2014 @ 4:00 am
Hi! Love this and making it now. However I'm not quiet sure how you pleated it? Can you please share how you did so ? Thanks 🙂
Kimberly
May 4, 2014 @ 10:58 pm
Oh, that is so lovely, and so easy! My brother is getting married, and their wedding theme is going to be the roaring 20's. I already have a simple blush dress, so I think I'll make a fascinator to go with it! Thanks for this tutorial!
Julie
May 5, 2014 @ 12:57 am
Sounds like a fun wedding! Enjoy!