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DIY Minnie Ears Fascinator Tutorial

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If you are any kind of Disney Weddings fan, you are familiar with “PB&J.”  Peter and Jennifer had the famous Animation Building (inside Disney’s California Adventure park) wedding that you’ve seen all over the place, including Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings own advertisements.

I’m so excited and honored to have Jennifer as a guest poster today, giving us a tutorial on how to make the SUPER CUTE Minnie ears fascinator she wore at her wedding reception!  Thank you, Jenn!

Hello! Jenn of “PB&J” here!  One of the most frequently asked questions I get is, “How did you make your Minnie bride hat?!” So here it is, a step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own Minnie Bridal ears!

 

DIY Minnie Ears Fascinator Tutorial

Photography Credit: Ari Simphoukham

Concept:
PB and I had our wedding reception inside Disney’s California Adventure Park, at the Animation Building. The venue is so whimsical and I wanted to create something special to wear that would match the uniqueness of the room. I wanted to DIY something fun, but still keep a bridal theme. I collect Mickey and Minnie Mouse ear hats and thought incorporating this concept would be the perfect way to infuse my love for Disney, along with create a memorable wedding accessory!

The Minnie bridal ears were a true PB&J labor of love. It took the creative talents of both PB and I to come up with the hat and we couldn’t be happier with the results. I was in charge of the hat’s design concept, finding the materials and putting together the initial hat mock-up. PB then put my ideas into action by constructing the hat using his “engineer” skills (and a hot glue gun).

The Minnie Bridal Ears were made out of simple materials that are easily found online or at any craft store. Here’s a list of the items we used:

-Glue gun
-Straight pins
-Fabric (any kind)
-Ribbons
-Fascinator base with comb
-Flexible craft foam

Construction of the Minnie Bridal Ears:

Step 1: BASE
I bought my fascinator base on Etsy.com from Simply Silver by Heena.

There are a wide variety of fascinator bases with different shapes and sizes listed on the site. Any base can be used, just be sure you choose one with an attached hair comb. For my own hat, I went with a simple circular ivory base.

Step 2: COVER BASE
Cover your fascinator base with fabric. I ended up sampling 3 different types of fabric textures, a satin, velvet, and silk taffeta. I ended up using the silk taffeta fabric, as it was a near perfect match to the color and texture of my wedding dress.

*Please excuse the super wrinkled fabric samples! When I took this photo it had been stuffed at the bottom of my “wedding craft box” for over a year!

Cut your fabric into a circle large enough to wrap around the bottom edge of the fascinator. Then use your handy glue gun to securely attach your fabric to the base.

An example of how the fabric covered the bottom of my hat base.

Step 3: MOUSE EARS
The ears are the trickiest part of the fascinator since they need to be proportional to your head and fascinator base size! This is where PB’s engineering skills came in handy, he calculated the perfect size for my ears according to the width of base. He then measured and cut out two identical circles from simple craft foam.

The white craft foam we used for my “ears.”

*Optional: Using a different type of fabric, cover your newly cut out “ears” and attach the fabric with the glue gun. You can use the same fabric as the base or anything else. I wanted something with a bit of “sparkle” for my ears, so I used a chiffon fabric with iridescent sparkles.

Step 4: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER!
Take your fabric covered fascinator base and attach “ears” by gluing them onto your base. Be careful not to use too much glue, it can turn into a gooey mess, FAST! For additional support, we pushed two straight pins through the base of the hat, directly into the foam ears. This made for a very secure attachment of all materials onto the fascinator.

At this point your ears should be put together, but you can still add your own creative touches!

Step 5: MAKE IT YOUR OWN
Let your personality shine through! I love things that are one of a kind and I wanted to be sure my ears really were representative of my own style. I went in and added a fabric trim on the edges of the hat for an extra “oomph”. I also added a green bow on my hat for that extra pop of color, plus it’s my absolute FAVORITE color. Extra tip, I found that using a wired ribbon will help keep the shape of a bow throughout the big day!

The different types of fabric trim I had to choose from for my hat.

Enhancements: At one point in my hat’s design phase, I experimented with adding a birdcage veil, sequins, bling, etc. onto the hat, but it just overpowered the little thing. I was able to add a bit of extra tulle and chiffon, underneath the green ribbon for added texture, but other than that I kept the hat simple and clean.

The end product, my PB&J Minnie bridal Ears!

The hat isn’t in as pristine condition as it was the day of the wedding, but it’s still holding up pretty well!

My Minnie Bridal Ears in action at our PB&J wedding!

Photography Credit: Ari Simphoukham
Putting my Minnie Ears on before the reception. For extra support, we added in extra hair pins to the fascinator’s hair comb.
Photography Credit: Ari Simphoukham

 

Photography Credit: Ari Simphoukham

 

My Minnie ears ended up being my #1 bridal accessory of the night! During our 1st dance, PB kept knocking into my ears whenever he’d twirl me. Thankfully, the hat stayed in place all night long!

Good luck and happy crafting to all the DIY brides out there, I hope you enjoyed the Minnie Bridal Ear Hat tutorial! Many thanks to IBD for letting me guest post! Take care everyone!

About Mindy

Mindy Marzec is a life-long Disney fan who grew up in Los Angeles. She started This Fairy Tale Life to share Disneyland travel tips for adults. When not at Disneyland, you can find Mindy at home snuggling with her cats and re-watching Thor: Ragnarok for the billionth time.