The Tale of Two Tiaras

I needed to figure out a way of making a miniature tiara for a project I'm working on...

In my first attempt (the top one in the picture above), I stitched the tiara onto ultrasuede and sandwiched it with another piece of ultrasuede and a piece of template plastic for stiffness...

I liked it OK but I didn't like the fact that I could see all of the gray ultrasuede around it...

I wanted the tiara to look more like a piece of jewelry...settling into the hair...and allowing you to see the hair through the crown.

So I went to an arts supply store and bought some of this aluminum mesh that sculptors use for sculpting stuff...I picked the tiniest grid I could find...1/16"


And guess what?? It's sew-able! Eureka! I think you could stitch all kinds of things onto this mesh where you needed a mold-able shape.


I used transparent thread and yes, you need to bring your patience to this task because the thread does get stuck on the tines of the metal very frequently...a glass of wine helps...

The other great thing about it was...After you're finished stitching, and you trim around the shape, the little extra "seam allowance" bends over very nicely -- locking in your stitches and giving you a prettier edge.


Needless to say, I was delighted to have figured this out.

And though I liked my first tiara a lot...but...


My second tiara takes the crown!