cheap trick: fancy fascinator

i like fancy mini hats, fascinators, and retro glam looks, but i'm strapped for cash, and i don't have room to store a lot of accessories so here's my cheap trick.


first: you need millinery netting, also known as hat netting. try googling millinery shops, bridal shops or the internet to find this. chances are your basic hobby store does not carry it. i've found 3/4 yard works best to use as a birdcage veil (around the front of your face covering your eye) as well as pinching and playing with it for different styles.

when you get your cut piece of netting, it will be flat, maybe have some distortion from wrapping around the bolt, you can just lay it flat under a little weight to flatten it out, but i haven't had much problem re-shaping it while pinning it to my head.

now to position and attach the netting simple bobby pins work best. bobby pins are so useful! you can set pin curls with them, style your hair in victory (or barrel) rolls, and so much more. i love these little things.

best way to shape your veil is to start at on of the corners and pinch-fold it with your fingers inward and up to the opposite long side about 4-6 inches in depending on desired shape. after you have it pinched just take one bobby pin and open it and slip the veil in so it will hold the place of your fingers, like pinning your hair so it won't slip. repeat to the other edge of the veil from the bottom long edge and pinch in and up to the top, so you have mirror sides, similar to a trapezoid. you can play and re-position the veil as you like till you like the way it fits, even look up styles on the internet for ideas how to shape it. dome the longer edge out away and over your face, and bring the two bobby pins together near the top of your head and pin in. vintage look is often off to one side.




after your veil is in place it's time to adorn it. add a clip, or any hair accesorie over where the bobby pins attach to your hair. the simplest of fitting choices would be a synthetic flower. you can get a stem of almost any flower you could possibly think of. if there is room to cut leaving a few inches of a wired stem you don't even have to add a clip to hold the flower in. i like orchids and daisy like flowers the fest for this because they lay more flat to your head, which is more appealing to your face.

you can pin in bows, flowers, anything you can think of to attach to your head and change it up. i use the same veil and alter the style of my hair or what i pin on top so it looks like i always have an original hat, yet in reality it's only a few pieces i mix and match.

below are a few examples. they're just photos i happen to have on this computer, but you get the picture. the photo on the left is a black net that i just have a skeleton clip pinned on, and the one on the right is white net with a big white flower. i hope this gives you some ideas! have fun.