Tear Drop Fascinator DIY - For Costumes!

Hello everyone. I know, I know, it's been awhile. Know that I AM still scrapbooking all the time, but I haven't had much new to share in the digital scrapbooking realm. However, I thought I would write a tutorial on a project I've been working on. No, it's not EXACTLY Photoshop, though I did use it in the project, but it's still a fun DIY so I thought I'd share!

As you may know, I have an after school ballroom team at my school. We've been getting our costumes together in preparation for our first performance next month. The dresses are done, but I have a lot of extra fabric and as I was thinking about the hairstyle we could use, it occurred to me that it might be fun to make a little hat--which is, apparently, called a fascinator. Did not know that before yesterday. Anyway, as I was looking online for tutorials, I couldn't find what I was looking for. Many of them required the use of a fascinator base. I, however, have to make 12 of these on a budget, and didn't want that extra expense. As making them waterproof is not a priority, since it's for a costume, I felt that using paper would work just fine. And they turned out great!

Now, I am going to take you through my process--and know that I used Photoshop and my Silhouette machine to do it. But you don't need to take those steps--you can do it by hand. But let me tell you, there are times when my Photoshop skills really do make things easier and more exact, and this is one of them! (If you keep scrolling down you will see the links to the video tutorials on Youtube.)

What You Will Need:

1. A piece of white cardstock paper
2. The fabric you want to use (I used a satin)
3. Tulle fabric
4. Glue gun
5. Needle and thread
6. Thin elastic
6. Photoshop and Silhouette machine OR a marker and cardboard to make a pattern.

Step 1:

First I determined the shape and size of the fascinator I wanted to create. At this point, if you are just going to draw it, do so on a thick piece of cardboard or on cardstock. I suggest you fold it in half and cut one side, so that it's even on both sides.

For me, I opened up Photoshop (Illustrator would be better but I don't know it very well!) and drew the shape I wanted using a circle shape and tear drop shape, then meshing them together. Then I did a CTRL-Click on the layer to highlight the shape and then did edit>stroke and make a 3px black stroke. Then I made the colored layer invisible and saved the file as a .png. If you want the .png file I created, you can get it here.

Step 2:

I pulled the png file into my silhouette machine and traced the shape. I also added a short line at the base where I could over lap it to give the hat a rounded top. Going to this extra effort--instead of just cutting it out--was worth it to me because I had to make 12 of them! It also came in handy cutting out the fabric. I then cut out 12 of the hats on white card stock paper.
If you have a Silhoutte, you can use the file shown left as well. Get it here.

Step 3:

Using a glue gun, I overlapped the cut section to give the hat a popped up look. But I kept it very slight.

Step 4:

Next, I cut out the fabric I needed. I used my Silhouette for this, too! I took the same shape as above and deleted the line for overlapping. Then I made it a little bit smaller and cut 12 of those out of the fabric--this would go on the inside of the hat. I then made the teardrop bigger than it had been originally and cut those out--that would be for the top of the hat. Again, you don't have to have a Silhouette for this, it just makes it easier--especially when you have to make 12 of them! (Remember to use a different blade with fabric than with paper.)

Step 5:

Using a glue gun, I took the larger fabric and glued down the tip of it onto the inside of the hat. Then I pulled in the two sides. I found it was easier to stretch it over the top and glue the back of the hat, so I knew how much I needed to work in. Then, I glued it all around the edges, slowly easing it in with folds until it was even.

Step 6:

Next, I glued around the edges of the smaller fabric, one bit at a time, and glued it to the inside of the hat.

Step 7:

Next I added thin elastic to the sides to help hold it on, though we will also use bobby pins to get it just right. I just hot glued the elastic on.

Step 8:

You could decorate this a million ways, but this is how I did it. I got the tulle (it was a 6" roll) and glued a segment on to the back side of the hat, pressing down against the hat. I left a tail behind big enough to make a loop. Then I pulled it across the front and around the back, and glued it down in the same spot.

Step 9:
I made two loops, and made a third loop with the tail I left behind. Using a needle and thread, I sewed throughout the bottom of the 3 loops to hold them in place, and knotted it. All done! So easy! I made all 12 in only a couple hours--the "extra work" of using my Silhouette was totally worth it and saved me tons of time, plus they were all exactly the same size!

Watch it step by step with my easy Youtube tutorials!

Part 1 - Photoshop and Silhouette Tutorial

Part 2 - Making the Hat Tutorial