Fascinators have been special to me ever since I attended a women’s interest luncheon back in the Fall of 2009. One in which, participants were encouraged to wear a tea hat or fascinator. With all intentions to attend the event, I would finally have the opportunity to dawn “one of those” English inspired pieces, as I’d seen recently in mainline department stores like Dillard’s but seemingly had no purpose for wearing until then. Headpieces were moderately popular, with hat and hair accessory wearers here in California at the time. Worn quite often around the time of Kate Middleton’s Royal Wedding, at similar special occasions the hat styles are not as popular around here anymore as “seasons fade”. I can remember preparing for the event through viewing fascinators in the wedding section at Nordstrom, Sacramento. They were all so gorgeously adorned in delicate details like silk florals, faux pearls, and other mostly white detailing. For this, my first fascinator wearing event, I decided to settle on a small black saucer hat with velvet flowers and ostrich feathers. The headpiece went very well with my warm green shift dress.
The most exceptional hats and fascinators, everything from those like the ones worn by Kentucky Derby attendants to the ones more traditionally worn at tea parties were there. Since that time, I have attended many more events that called for hats and have opted for the more understated fascinator accessory every time. I love how seamlessly “styles change with the times”…with the changing of seasons both figuratively and literally. I’ve kept up with the fashion over the years at places like Debenhams, an UK based department store, with an online presence which was not true for many stores at the time. In the UK, fascinators will likely always be popular. Some of the very best rarish designs were on that site and I always looked forward to “finally” attending the event which would fulfill my desire to order one of the headpieces ….”all the way from London”. The site truly has a special place in my heart!
Surprisingly, today, one can find very unique pieces on social media sites like Pinterest and Instagram, which I discovered a few years ago. On Instagram, you can find everything from headpieces with hot colored orchid flowers to ones with floating Easter eggs. My favorite type of fascinator, today, though fashion at special occasions around here has become increasingly casual, is the nature inspired type, using subtle colors. I love, love love love the butterfly fascinators though quality ones can be difficult to find, outside of the handmade ones on social media. The butterfly fascinators are possibly a short-term trend or hopefully a long-term trend that may eventually catch on at my favorite…department stores like Dillard’s and Nordstrom where I’ve mostly purchased those types of hair accessories.
A couple of weeks prior to Easter, I decided that I to was going to wear a whimsical butterfly fascinator and that the celebration of KING JESUS CHRIST would be the perfect day in which to dawn one. I looked on Amazon where they had fascinators of all types on both clips and headbands. So, the one that I chose was of mostly purple and blue hues. It is very nice to look at but not very well made, with bendable, plasticky butterflies. Honoring KING JESUS is important so I immediately began to search for a chiffon based head piece at which point the HOLY SPIRIT spoke to me. As there were fabric butterflies, headbands, and floral wire on Amazon alone…I know now that I can make my own.
Materials:
Making my own late Spring butterfly fascinator required the following materials:
chiffon butterflies
black floral wire
glue gun sticks
a glue gun and……
thin ribbon that is the same color as your headband
I opted to purchase the butterflies from the internet because we didn’t have them available in town. You can purchase yours from ETSY, Temu or Amazon.com. A purchaser is usually provided with the wide range of styles to which I chose pastel butterflies. Apon arrival of the butterflies I was pretty pleased as they are very pretty.
Creating a Butterfly Fascinator
Step 1
First, you will use scissors to cut different lengths of wire to which you’ll extend your butterflies from. It’s important that most of the butterflies look as though they are cascading around your headband so you should plan for the wire pieces to remain past a certain length for the whimsy to appear realistic. I would suggest cutting pieces that are roughly 3 inches in length.
Step 2
You will then select the butterflies that you’d like to choose, two of the same at a time. Glue the end of the wire to the side of the butterfly that isn’t adorned with studs and then stick the other matching butterfly to the wire and the unadorned side of the original butterfly together, like a sandwich!
Step 3
Take the exposed end of the wire, wrap it three times around the perimeter of the head band, and secure it in place with hot glue.
Step 4
Take another piece of wire and repeat the pattern of adding the butterfly to the wire and then glueing it to the headband between five to ten times depending upon how large or decorative your butterflies are and the type of image you are attempting.
Step 5
Lastly, wrap thin ribbon of your preferred color and material around the perimeter of the headband and add glue at each end of the headband to seal everything in place.
I will have a late Pentecost celebration in the beginning of June and hope to wear my fascinator then as I unfortunately didn’t get to wear it on Easter! Thank you for taking the time to read and learn about how to make a simple butterfly fascinator. I hope that the experience of making one will be interesting, and the article helpful. I’m looking forward to showing updated pictures in a few weeks. To our best lives!…
