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!
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.
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!
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!!!
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/
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!
Here’s Holly’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:
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!
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.
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.
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!
May 17, 2011 @ 12:55 pm
Your fascinator is fascinating. I really did not know what they were called so thanks for the information.
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!
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!!!
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!!
May 17, 2011 @ 10:24 pm
What lovely hats. Thanks for the tutorial.
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/
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 🙂
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!
May 5, 2014 @ 12:57 am
Sounds like a fun wedding! Enjoy!