Want to rock the style of Frida Kahlo for your wedding, or indeed any day? Then let milliner Janie Lawson of Glam Hatters’ Hen Party Workshops show you how.
Materials needed:
- fabric flowers & leaves,
- thin wire (ideally 0.4mm)
- thin headband to wire on to
- baubles
Equipment needed:
- pliers
- sharp scissors
- needles and pins
- leaf green thread
TOP TIP:
The gold baubles were on a Christmas twig arrangement – look in your loft or ask at charity shops who often store decorations for the festive period.
Step 1: Cut your wire no longer than an arm’s length as any longer and it will flip about all over the place. Start by wrapping the wire 3 times around the headband and then wrap around the base of the first flower attaching the flower to the band.
Step 2: Every time that you wire on a flower follow that step by wiring on a leaf. Frida Kahlo wore huge statement pieces and this will pack out the headdress and give it a full-on Frida look!
Step 3: Once you have 3 flowers and leaves wired on to the band, thread your needle with a double thread and a knot at the end.
Step 4: Go back to the first flower and stitch through the flowers and around the band to stop the flowers slipping and to keep everything secure.
Step 5: Trim the edges of the largest leaves. These will be used to as cover up pieces for the next step. Trimming the leaves means you have a colour match but you could also use ribbons in a different colour if you want to make more of a statement.
Step 6: Wind the pieces that you’ve just trimmed from the leaves around the headband and between the flowers and leaves. Pin into place. This works to cover up any wiring and helps to stitch on your flowers. It gives a very professional look, like the finish vintage hats and headpieces have.
Step 7: Stitch carefully, with leaf green thread through the ribbon in small stitches. Finish off with a double stitch. Always use a double thread with a knot at the end for millinery.
Step 8: Stitch through the stem of your baubles (these ones had a loop at the end where they had been attached to the branches). If yours don’t have a loop you can wrap a small amount of sticky tape at the bottom of the stem and stitch through and around that.
Step 9: Stitch the bauble into the centre base of the flower. Stitch all the way through the centre of the flower and secure with a double stitch on the outside base of the flower. This will be covered up with the leaves.
Step 10: Take another look at the overall effect. Ask yourself whether you need more flowers…are all the stitches covered up…does the balance look right when you try it on? You can keep this piece simple or add more and really go to town with it. If you’re channelling Frida Kahlo, you can do whatever you want and no one will dare say a thing!
For more tutorials and workshops please visit Glam Hatters. You can also read more here at Magpie Wedding such as how to make a flower hoop and how to make a star fascinator.
Credits:
Hair & Make Up by Kirsty Cox Artistry
Photography by Elena Rendina
