Tag: ribbon
DIY Wedding Hat Saver
Vintage styling is the most random of occupations – we never quite know what we might get asked for next or how Heath Robinson our props will become! But some ideas are really rather wonderful…
When Natalie and Ben asked us to make a Wedding Hat Saver for venue dressing their Dorset wedding (as photographed here by Jospeh Yarrow )- we adored the idea!
A Wedding Hat Saver is designed to hold all of the guest’s hats during the reception thus preventing them being crushed, sat-upon or (horror on horrors) thrown about in drunken madness!
Make your own pretty hat saver for your party by following our instructions:
You will need: 
- Buy a couple of packs of new wooden pegs. You need hinged ones not old dolly pegs
Paint the outsides of the pegs using a thin coat of paint for wood. Don’t use emulsion as it might flake off onto the hats. It’s also sensible to leave the inside of the pegs unpainted – just in case – and make sure you do this task at least a week before your wedding to allow time for it to dry really well. We chose a Craig and Rose 1829 eggshell (William Morris) – which is actually a subtle duckegg green!
- Decorate the outsides of the pegs with spots, buttons or flowers – or leave plain for a simpler look. You can also varnish the pegs for a gloss look!
- Write or paint a matching card or wooden sign to tell guests that this is where they hang up their hats. Do 2 or 3 for bigger areas.
- Attach your coloured ribbon “clothes-line” to the edges of your marquee or hall – or in our case we added it to the partition between the eating area and dance floor which meant people could peg their hats onto the ribbons or the trellis itself.
- Remember the weight of the hats will pull the ribbon down in the centre so make sure its fastened as taught as you can. We also added additional ribbons and pretty glass and paper hearts so it looks more decorative.
- Place the pegs along the ribbon together with your sign and peg at least one hat onto the hat saver so that people understand how to hang up their hat and your done!
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Our Vintage Christmas – holly wreath
We think the first of December is an ideal time to put up a traditional Christmas holly wreath to give yourself a vintage cheer each time you and your friends come in without being overwhelmed by Christmas bling and sky-high electricity bills.
The term “Wreath” comes from the latin for “Wrist” referring to a continuous circular shape. In Middle English the word “wrethe” was also used to mean a twisted band or ring of leaves or flowers in a garland. The circle is thought to represent eternity or eternal life demonstrating nature’s perseverance over the cold of winter and in Christian tradition representing eternal life. By the 16th century, Shakespeare had included the word “Holly” in his writing and by the 17th century holly was a regular feature in Christmas decorations. The circle of holly came to represent Jesus’s crown of thorns, as well as the resurrection and eternal life. Holly and Christmas Wreaths now stand for peace, joy, and seasonal cheer.
We got our holly wreath from our friends in LETS this year – this is a local exchange trading system that means you can exchange goods and services with other people locally using a token system rather than money. Its lovely to get hand-crafted things this way as people take such care when making gifts by hand and all of the materials are locally sourced.
If you want to make your own victorian wreath (bit rustic but great fun) then why not try out this method from the BBC’s Victorian Farm series.