I do wear them! My mother-in-law is an incredibly fashionable woman and she has often worn a fascinator or hat to church or dinner... being married to her son for 7 years has encouraged me to wear something with confidence  if I like it. Sometimes confidence and pride in what you're wearing is the best accessory!

I have long hair and I tend to put part of my hair up when I wear a fascinator... but my baby sister has a funky/angled short haircut, and they look equally great on her!

Tea

So, I thought I'd share a few of the fascinators I've created lately. A friend of mine is a real royal nut, and at her wedding last year, all of the ladies wore fascinators and/or hats. Since then I've become rather interested in these lovely little creations.















C&C welcome and appreciated!

Tea.

[I]

Thanks! It's def. way more wearable now. Another clothing item rescued from the thrift rack!

I hope the tutorial does help. It's actually my philosophy that since I'm actually fairly craft-challenged (no, seriously - when I was in our youth group at church and we made Christmas ornaments for fundraising, my Mum used to go first thing to the sale to buy my 'special' ornaments before anyone else saw them. Not joking) that if I can do something, then pretty much ANYONE can do it.

Most of my fantasy life is in book form, I don't own a TV. Would that be acceptable?

TOTALLY.

I mean, at the very least Harry Potter and LoTR is based in book form as well as later on in Movies. But, i'm ALWAYS interested in learning about new fantasy books that others have read. So, i would say that's completely acceptable.


What do people think about a time frame for this swap. I'm thinking I'd start sign-ups sometime in May and have the send-outs after about a month. So, maybe 2 weeks for signups (to mid may) and then a month for crafting, so send outs would be mid-June?

What do you think?

Tea.

I think if we get enough people we could match up depending on fandoms, and it might be cool to craft for one fandom you know and one you don't! Of course, then I could get in trouble for introducing people to a whole bunch more new fandoms and then they'd get attached to those.... oh well. 

Thanks everyone! Just wanted to share how I wore this top on Easter Sunday morning.

It's a great layering piece - I can see it getting a LOT of wear... and now I'm on the lookout for a fun cotton print to do it again.

Tea

So.... like most sci-fi/fantasy types I'm a fan of many many many of the shows/movies/etc that fit into this genre... and while I love swapping Doctor Who and Supernatural and Harry Potter etc, sometimes I'd like to swap a little from this and a little from that

How do people feel about having a swap that can encompass up to say... three of their fandoms?

Here are some of my suggested obsessions

- Doctor Who
- Supernatural
- Warehouse 13
- Harry Potter
- Sanctuary
- LOTR
- X-files
- any more suggestions?


Love to hear if anyone else is interested in this idea.

Tea.

I would LOVE to do a Supernatural swap. Are you open to having swappers outside the US? I'm in Canada, and would totally swap if others are open to cross border shipping.

Thanks! I actually wore it on Easter Sunday under a cardigan and got lots of compliments. It's one of my most successful refashions!

So, I don't think I've ever written a re-fashioning tutorial before, but I was so pleased with how this came out that I just had to share it with you, and thankfully I took WAY too many pictures along the way!

So I started with this (pretty seriously) ugly button down lace top that I got at the V-V boutique (aka Value Village). I liked the lace and... that was about it.


First thing to go was the collar. Then the sleeves. The trick with the sleeves is to cut them so that the seam that connected them to the body of the shirt is still there. That gives a nice solid amount of fabric to fold under and hem for the arm holes. Then I cut out a much more flattering neckline. (Looking better already!)


Then I cut open both sleeve along the seam to give myself more fabric flat to work with


And created a little collar pattern to work with


Pin the pattern to the lace (because lace is finicky and hard to work with). If you're not using lace, you could just trace your pattern onto the fabric. Making sure you're cutting 2 pieces for each collar piece. (so 2 pieces here)


And cut it out with a seam allowance


I then cut it in half and cut two (four - two of each) more pieces because I wanted a wider peter pan style collar to go with the neckline. You can use your judgement for whatever piece you're working with here


Now that you have all your pattern pieces, on to the sewing!
First I sewed down the button placket. I wouldn't be unbuttoning this shirt ever anyway, and buttons at the bust always gape on me, so I sew down plackets wherever possible.


Then, turn under the raw edges of the armholes that you cut, using the seam allowance that was left as a stabalizing edge to sew on


Then sew each of the collar pieces together, and turn.



Once you've turned each collar piece, you'll need to topstitch each piece as close to the edge as possible. I use this stitch setting on my machine.

and sew right near the edge of each piece


voila! Collar!


Next I turned the bodice of the shirt inside out, sewed up about an inch on each side and an inch at the top of the shoulders to take it in to fit (no picture). Then I pinned the collar the way I wanted it to lay, but backwards, on the inside of the neckline.


Sew that down, turn it right side out, and then pin again so that you can topstitch the collar down on the neckline, and take this time to turn under any other raw edges on your neckline



and once that's done, you have a fab new lace shell, where you once had an ugly lace button down!



Voila!


Now throw that baby on with some pearls and head on out. I did!

Tea.

C&C VERY welcome.