Wedding crafts: create a classic straw hat with daisy accents

Many young girls spend their summer hours asking the daisies if “he loves me” or “he loves me not.” When it’s evident that he indeed is in love, the romantic daisy makes the perfect flower to use in decorating for the nuptials.

Are you planning a wedding for May or June? If so, you will find that the wild daisies will be blooming abundantly. Their cheery white and yellow blossoms are a natural to use in the marriage ceremony of two nature lovers. Regardless of when your wedding is planned, however, realistic silk daisies are always available.

A wedding with a nature theme can feature wide brimmed straw hats for the flower girl, bridesmaids, and even the bride. These hats are available in white or pastel raffia as well as natural straw. In addition to outdoor or country-style weddings, straw hats are also appropriate for vintage era themes, such as the 1930’s art deco cloche, or the flat straw hats from around 1900.

For the simplest wedding headpiece, make a chain of wild daisies and fit it around the crown of a plain straw hat. To make a daisy chain, pick enough wild daisies to reach around the crown of the hat. Be sure to leave several inches of stem on each one. Using a sharp fingernail or a small knife, carefully split the stem, making a slit about a half inch long. Make this slit about an inch from the blossom. Take another daisy and slip it’s stem through the slit. Make a slit in its stem and slip the stem of another daisy through it. Continue this process until the chain is long enough to circle the crown of the hat. To finish the chain into a loop, make a longer slit of about 1-1/2 inches on the last daisy stem. Slip the entire flower head of the first daisy through this slit. Carefully trim away any extra stem and arrange the flowers so that they cover the stems.

For a more elaborate country bride’s hat, arrange wide white satin or silk ribbon around the crown of a white straw hat and glue in the back. A hot glue gun works nicely. Make a large bow of the same wide ribbon and glue it over the seam where the ribbon was glued. Glue silk leaves and daisies onto the center of the knot. Add babys breath accents. Carefully sew ruffled white lace around the edge of the brim of the hat.

If desired, the ribbon can first be embroidered with “lazy daisies”. These can be colored or stitched in all white. Stretch the ribbon fabric taut with a small embroidery hoop. To embroider each “lazy daisy,” begin with a French knot, which will form the center of the flower. To make a French knot, bring the needle up through the back of the fabric. Lay the point of the needle near the place where the thread comes up and wrap the thread around it twice. Insert the needle into the ribbon and pull taut underneath. Be sure not to put the needle in exactly the same hole when forming the knot.

To make the petals of each lazy daisy, bring up your needle near the French knot. Make a little loop, about one-fourth inch long and insert your needle near where you brought it up. Slip the needle up through the fabric one-fourth inch away where you want the end of the loop (petal) to be. Secure the petal with a tiny stitch. Pull securely beneath the fabric. Make these petals all around the French knot and you will have created a “lazy daisy.” To scatter these daisies along the ribbon, first make the French knots at random spots along the ribbon, and then sew the petals around them. A variation on the embroidered daisies is to sew on a tiny seed pearl for the center of each daisy instead of making the French knots.

For the bridesmaids and flower girls, painted daisies, which bloom in various shades of pink, can be used on a straw hat that has been dyed the desired shade. In addition, daisy chains can be made with other wildflowers interspersed for interest and color. For best results use simple flowers which don’t have milky stems.

For the bride, a veil may be attached to the hair, and the decorated hat placed on top. To make a veil, you will need two yards of bridal illusion, or tulle, in the desired length. This delicate fabric may be cut with decorative edged scissors for a scalloped border, or cut with a rotary cutter for a crisp cut. With a needle and thread, sew loose running stitches about an inch from the top edge of the veil material. Pull tight to gather. Sew the gathered tulle to a simple hair comb and trim any excess material.

The joining of a man and a woman in holy matrimony demands the sweetest and loveliest of garments and decorations. Straw hats with daisies are a natural for such a joyous occasion!