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Intro to Making a Headdress

I am. Welcome back. Welcome back to Creativelive. And welcome back to our holiday craft course. This is part one of fork car courses were offering in the next couple days. On this is Headdresses with Jeanette Crawford. But I think we have to start by looking at my co host John Marie's wonderful crown that she made before the break. If you were with us, then this was made live on air. It's already dry, and it's totally fashionable already. You look amazing. Thank you. It's very downtown. You got some red ruby studs going in there and you got some glitter as well. So great stuff, Only the best for me. So, Jeanette, what are we gonna be doing in this section? Okay, so in this segment, we will be making feather headdresses like the one you're wearing right now. I forgot what I was wearing this so comfortable in natural, natural, very natural for me. It looks perfect on you. Okay, So, um, so we'll go ahead and dive in. And, um, again, I'll mention that when I first designed this headdress s...

tyle, it was something that I designed for Children. So it's It's something that will size to be worn by by a newborn by a child or even by an adult. So it's It's got a lot of flexibility in the same thing for even adults act like Children. Perfect. That's a vest in area. So, uh, so the first thing we'll dio is design what we want our had dressed to look like. So the basic materials that will be using our leather. So I have, uh I have some leather here that I picked up from a store here in San Francisco called Fabric Outlet. And so I was able to get a large piece of leather like this, big or so and I think it costs me about $30 on Ben. I trimmed this piece out, and I have done all the trimming that I've needed. Teoh. Another great option is Teoh. Use a piece of leather like this and this piece comes from the Tandy Leather factory, which, which I mentioned just Teoh help those of you at home sore some of these materials easily. This is something that, if easy to find the craft stores like like even at Michael's. I got this at a store here in San Francisco, and then this has some nice straight edge is already built into it. This is really soft. It's what it is like a suede. Yeah, yeah. So this one is. It's weighed its soft on both sides. This one is actually smooth on one side. But it's the back side that is soft. And that's but I happen to prefer for the last piece of $30 that you bought. How many headdresses do you think you get out of? Goodness Eyes quite good. Value 20 or 30 which is a lot. The trimming take some time. So, um, so we'll go ahead and talk about the trimming right now. So trimming, by the way, I'm going to see if I have that full hide. Do let me show you so well. So that peace, that peace that I bought and this was from a fabric outlets. So, um, they're using pieces that haven't been used elsewhere, but you can see it's got It's got the irregular edges from an actual hide. Andi, When I when I buy from a fabric outlet, it means that that I'm not that it's something that somebody else didn't need. So it's not creating quite as much demand on the leather, which is nice. So then you can see here how how I have, um I've cut a lot of strips here from the top with my straightedge, and so one of these strips that will use that came from right here. And just use the nitrogen just like an Exacto knife. Or do you scissors? I'll show you what I did. And so, uh, so you can use scissors. That's no problem. Um, but it doesn't give me quite the preciseness that I look for. So what I dio if I use a metal ruler and a rotary cutter and, um, this rotary cutter It's wonderful for, um, fabric for leather. And I even used it on tissue paper recently to make fringe. So it's it's really paid off for me, but probably not for pizza. Maybe it's incredibly sharp. Okay, So any time you're not using it, you want to put the guard up. Um, but I like that. I think true. Multi use tool. So? So I'll go ahead and demonstrate how I've done this for me, this height is pretty long, so I'm able to make, um, long strips at a time if I need Teoh, Uh, you can make a longer cut with one stroke if you use like, a longer metal ruler. But, um, for the sake of example, today I'm just using a 12 and trailer. And when I measure out the width of my band, I actually use the height of the ruler that makes that makes it very easy for me to size out. Otherwise, you could go through and, Mark, you're the height of your band. But, um but I like I like to go the easy way the efficient way. So I'm going Teoh, lineup the ruler with the edge of the suede and then I'll pull out my rotary cutter and cut right on the edge of the ruler. And there I've got to see how shelter. Yeah, it's very straight. So I didn't get all the way through this. I'll just clipped that. So then I got a nice straight edge and, um, presumably with the left. And then you don't need to do anything to the actually just completely, John. Yeah, Yeah, that's that's a really nice quality of it is that you don't need to Teoh do anything else to the edging. So that's what it looks like to cut it out of a large a large piece like this. So I'll go ahead and tucked away. Um, and so if you're going to use a strip like this and it looks like this one is about nine inches long, um, if I were to use this, I might cut it in half and even double it like, um, cut a diagonal and connect them and then double the black around it and then use a different piece of leather for aligning on the back. Um, but we would just do the same thing. We would go ahead and, um, line up our ruler. And I like to use this cutting mat. It really helps me cut straight angles very easily. Tell me you guys are pretty experienced. Do you use a rotary cutter at home? Actually have never used when I brushed. Always use an Exacto knife, but I love the idea of using the rudder. Yeah, I actually haven't tried an Exacto knife on the leather, but I think it would be taught I don't really use do paper crime. Yeah, definitely. Rotary. Yeah. Do any of you have a rotary cutter, I would recommend it. I I actually I feel like I was a little bit late to the game with getting a rotary cutter. You might cut her myself, and it's been fabulous. Like I said I made. I made a tissue fringe photo backdrop just last week and save me a lot of time rather than making a little test with scissors. Um, so So that's what it looks like to cut the leather. And then, um, and then another another, uh, thing will be using for this headdress is suede lace. So, um, you could use leather cord, which is more round and smooth, but I really like the suede lace. I'm using suede for the front of the headdress anyway, so this this matches the style, but then it's also a bit toothy, so it makes the tie in the back tire easily because sometimes when when the material uses to slick, it can be hard to tie that both, especially if your tight knit on yourself or on a wiggly little kid. Of course, one of the questions that came up in the chat room before we went to the break was, Can you braid this now? Maybe this is a bit too thick to braid. I think it would be wonderful. Okay. Yeah. And this the suede I have absolutely braided. I think. I think it's really nice. It might get a little bulky to tie in the back. Honestly. But you could even use braided suede, maybe as an accessory. Or is your band in the front and then do a single strip in the back? I think that would be beautiful. So then, for the fathers, the fathers of the main event here of of our headdress. So for the feathers, we are going to use other trim so that we talked about this a little bit earlier. How feather trim is, um, refers to feathers that are sewn together. And so what that does, is it? It saves us the time of fixing individual feathers. Teoh to a band. And so these feathers right here I believe these air goose feathers, these air something that we found on Amazon. And, um, they're wonderful. They're they're linked to on the course page. If those of you at home want to get these specific feathers, this feather trim I picked up at, uh, my my local craft store, and you can see this is a shorter feather, and it's a little bit finer, and it's got some nice movement. And so again, it's just up to your own preference on how you want Teoh. Use the feathers. A shorter one might be better for a child. The taller ones are really nice. There's just a lot of variations. So when you when you go pick out your feathers, you can just have a ball with Great. Now the ones that are already pre stitch These come in any other colors, or generally they come in. You have a diamond. Maybe I tried. That wouldn't be ideal, but maybe just get a bit of colors. You could. You know, I've actually experiments it a little bit. I with some of the white feathers. I tried to use a Sharpie to add just a touch of black on the outside, actually didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped. Not such a great idea. Well, it was just because the feathers, you know, you think of a duck and, like water rolls right off it. It's not really made to absorb that ink was my experience with a Sharpie, but you could definitely play around with it. I think that would be really fun. But it comes in so many colors. I happen to prefer some of the more natural colors. But, um, check out this. This strip right here, this is this doesn't have any any fabric on the bottom. So these air these act a little bit more like like individual feathers. And so if I were Teoh, make this into a headdress, I could put it right here and seeing them straight up. Or, you know, I could bend them back to the side a little bit and it's beautiful. Andi, stand up really nice and tall, which really makes a statement. How she thought looked really, really glamorous. Me, That's very much like sort of thirties flap with That's good. Yeah, very nice. These be. They're lovely. And so So The recipe for a headdress is is, um, is a band for the front and then a strip of feathers and then the lace that will use to tie it. And then the last thing will dio is we'll use, um, some more feather or Excuse me. It's more leather, or you could he's felt Teoh line the back. So that's the basic makeup of the headdress. And so what we're gonna do now here in the studio audience is with the studio audience is designed our headdresses. Okay, So great jobs with the crown before breaks. You are You look amazing, Video. Thanks so much joy to my heart to see this. I love it. So, um okay, so So now we can talk a little bit about different options for customizing your headdress. And that's what I love so much about About this crown project and this headdress project is that they're so customizable. So, um so I've made many of these headdresses with just simply the suede showing on on the outside. No lining, no extra feathers or no, no embellishments on them, which I think is really simple and nice. Um, in the example, over here I added some Rhinestones, and this is something that would be really fun on a little girl who, you know, maybe a rowdy little princess. Something like that. Um, and I think it's San Francisco of an awful visual. Boys. You'd like to wear this is a very nice. So here's another example. And on this one, I, uh I made the band a little bit shorter of a wit and tapered it at the edges. And then I glued on some sequence. I found these sequins locally, and I love them. They're sort of zebra striped, so they're a little bit exotic and fun. Um, so another another option that I love is to use this. This is a It's sort of a stiffened felt backing, and then it has these beautiful guinea feathers on it. And so the head dress that you're wearing right now, I actually made with my own strip of suede this exact leather here. And then I glued these feathers on individually, right? And so that's perfectly doable. And it was actually, it wasn't difficult. It was pretty easy. Um, but again, for the for the sake of efficiency, if you can find some trim like this, that's really nice. And I found this to stores locally myself. So, um, hopefully it would be pretty accessible. Always think this actually came with feathers. Owner, right? I'm sorry, wasn't following and it's felt and it's perfectly fine that that's felt that. It's nice and it's got some heaviness. And don't you just different that it'll No, you don't. It's all said. I think it was around nine or $10 a yard, which, which isn't Isn't that bad feathers? Which feather? Any of them? Like where you shopping? We want more specific. Okay, great. So, um, so here in San Francisco, um, I have shopped a lot at it's just called the fabric outlet. And, um so they have a lot of this feather trim that they sell by the yard, and that's where I first got this. Um, I've since seen this. This is a very, very common feather trim style. This one right here, where the feathers there about using about four inches tall, and they've got this bed to them. So it's something you could make him facing in, or you could make them facing out. And, you know, you can heat style them with your flat iron, like we talked about before. So this is something that I've seen sold by the yard at multiple places, and then I've also seen it packaged. And so when you see it packaged and this is something that might be more common it like a Michael's or hobby lobby or something. Where can you tell him from the Midwest talking about hobby? Lobby anyone? Eso So this you would. When it's packaged, it'll be. It'll be on a little card. It will be wrapped around, and it will be about sold by at about by about a yard at a time. And so this one's really accessible. I can't give a brand or even necessarily a specific type of feathers, but this one in particular is very accessible. These goose feathers, like I said we found on Amazon, and so and that's linked to on the course page. Specifically, I couldn't find this one specifically on Amazon, but I think this is one that you'll be able to find locally. And actually, maybe this is something that our online audience can share with us. Because, you know, I've got a lot of craft is in the chat room today, so maybe you could so throw into my ideas of where you find your cross, where you find your feathers online and we can share that with our global audience. We have one answer. Actually, Michelle be California beaches are great for collecting others. Fantastic. Yeah. So that's that's a place. That's the real McCoy. And that was fantastic. I found a beautiful feather recently in the middle of San Francisco. The Hawk feather about this tall that would that would be beautiful to use. Or you could just run out onto Camilla's private estate back a goose. You're really into that more about backing. So, uh, so you could also you could also use felt you wouldn't even necessarily need to stiffen it. Um, and we've talked about stiffening today, So we're all we're all over that which I think is just such a great sort of tool to have in your back pocket. You know, you just stock some stiffening products, and suddenly you can make anything stand up. Right. Um, you have no idea about my mind is go. Well, now ideo that aside. So then you could also use ribbon on. And I think I think ribbon could be a really nice option. Let me see if I have something for a child. Is we'll have a really bright colored Absolutely. You know, I I just wasn't able to find a ribbon that I really connected with myself. But, um oh, you know what? I see it sitting right there beside you. What, you want running that up to me, if you don't mind. Okay? Is it Is it a fabric ribbon or is it you know the other? The other types that are made of plastic, Those kinds of ribbons or that more of a fabric that, uh um I would not use a satin ribbon, probably Onley, because they can be kind of finicky. And especially if you're going Teoh glue like this, you'll be soaking it and glue. But Blake basically so with a fattened ribbon, I don't think it would end up with the nice satin finish that it had pre glue you guys, they're not Even so, I think you agree with me. Um, but there there are some really fun fabric ribbons and in different materials. So if you if you find a ribbon that you like and I think I think this one's nice, it's just it's just golden white and you can actually use either side. And if you put this with some white feathers, I think there's something really playful and really, really classy. Very about the style. A little bit of bling for the holidays. That's really Yeah. And what's nice about this is that if you don't have a rotary cutter and if you're a little bit worried about about using leather, you don't need to use the leather, and you don't need to get a precise cut with this example. And I'm all about the customization here. You can tell with this example what I would dio is, um is if this world a leather free example a vegan example, maybe, Well, we're using feathers, but Well, well, anyway, uh, so with this example with the ribbon, I would glue the feather trim to it, and then on the back, I would line it with something like like felt and, um And then for the ribbon you've got, you've got a perfectly straight edge. And then on the ends, I would, um, maybe dab some glue to keep it from frame and then fold it in to keep a nice edge and then attached that lining on the back. So? So there is a great option that, um, that doesn't use any leather or a rotary cutter, which I can understand what could be a little bit intimidating for some people who may be our nose experienced. Now our students have got some different options. Have you all chosen to use suede or leather? You're going to use something else. Stone in your ribbon now, haven't we? I would love to share with you.