Royal Order Sash Bow Tutorial

Hello all!  Just a quick tutorial about how to make a Royal Order Sash Bow.  I made these years ago, for my trip to Costume College in 2014 and then Port Townsend's Victorian Festival in 2015. Somehow I forgot to write about how I made them.  With this year's Costume College's theme being royal and all, I figured it would be a good time to do just that!

The ribbon I used was 3" wide moire ribbon from this store on eBay:  Ribbon Store.  It offers many colors, made of rayon and is fabulous to work with!

I have a nice Pinterest board dedicated to Sashes:  Royal: Order Sashes where all kinds of inspiration can be found.

The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor has 2 wonderful posts dedicated to sashes:  Sashes and Stuff Part 1 and Sashes and Stuff Part 2

that explain the meaning of sashes, countries that give sashes and orders, how to wear them and other fun things!  Plus, the blog is just fabulous to look at if you like me and adore all things royal!  

Port Townsend, WA for their Victorian Festival.  I loved the way the light blue of this sash went with the pale yellow of my natural form ball gown.

More images here:  Port Townsend Victorian Festival

Costume College 2014.  The first time I went as royalty.  I attended the gala as Empress Gina and my fabulous costuming bestie attended as Queen Josie!

More images here:  2014 Costume College Gala

On To The Tutorial!

Take two lengths of the ribbon and fold them so that the ends lap over each other about 1/2" in the back.  The finished, folded piece should measure 5 3/4", so perhaps the length of the ribbon pieces before folding would be 11.5"?  I apologize for not measuring that....  Mark the very center with chalk or a disappearing pen and secure with a pin.  You will have two separate folded pieces of ribbon.

Place the two folded ribbon bits one on top of the other, overlapping sides facing each other so that you don't see any raw edges on the finished product.  Stitch up the marked line.

After you have stitched the two folded ribbon pieces together, iron the edges so that they are flat.

Now you get to make the template for the "pinked" edges of the next layer.

Cut a new piece of ribbon 5 3/4" long and transfer the "pinked" edges to each short (cut) side of the ribbon and cut out.

Fold the "pinked" piece in half and iron so that you can see where the middle is.

Place the "pinked" piece on the two folded, stitched and ironed pieces.  You'll want the ribbon to gather nicely when you pull the string, so use my stitches as a guide.  The idea is to have the ribbon gather in deep gathers and not shallow ones like you have when gathering a skirt into a waistband.

Sadly, I didn't take photos of the next steps, but they are easy.  Gather up the hand sewn running stitch in the center of the three layers as tight as you can get it and knot it off.  Cut a piece of ribbon about an inch to 1 3/4" wide.  Tri-fold it into a piece about 1/4" wide, or a bit more, and wrap around the center of the ribbon over the top of the gathering stitches.  Sew to secure in the back.

Next, drape the rest of the ribbon over your shoulder and overlap it at your hip and mark where they meet.  I can't remember how far the overlap point was from the end...maybe 3 or 4"?  Pin the overlap in place.  While it is on you (or your mannequin), pleat the ribbon at your shoulder so that it lays flat against you.  If you don't do this, it will stick out and look weird.  Secure with pins so you can sew the pleats down when you take it off.  When you take the sash off, either gather or pleat the marked bits so that when you overlap them, they flare out from each other.  You don't want them laying on top of each other.  Stitch points together.

Sew bow to the spot where the sash points have been stitched together.  Now you can decide how long you want your tails.  Looking at actual images of real sashes will help a lot here!

Now you can totally add whatever "Order" you want to!  Since Josie liked elephants, this was our Order of the Elephant!  Denmark is the country that has an actual Order of the Elephant!  I put the ring of the medallions under the "knot" of the bow and stitched to secure!

I won a lot of heraldic pendants on eBay and fell in love with this one.  It also matches my order star so Huzzah!!  Perfect match!!

Some of my "order stars" that I have collected over the years.  The top two were ones that I altered using stars off of eBay.

Please note:  When you make the sashes, remember that the back side of the ribbons need to be longer that the front side as the bow sits at your hip, whatever hip you decide that should be.  Most sashes go from the right shoulder to the left hip with the exception of a very few.  But if you are planning on making your own "order of....." sash, you can decide what shoulder to what hip you go with!

I hope this tutorial made sense!  They are super easy and fun to make!!

Blessings to you all!

g

The House of White Star Tiara

For some time now, I have been in lust with Star Tiaras, I don't know what it is about these beautiful tiaras, but my eyes dilate, my salivary glands go into overdrive, and I get warm fuzzies all over when I see them.  Before you ask, of course I have a Pinterest board... Tiaras: Stars.  I go there regularly to drool and dream and wish. 

   

I purchased this Star Tiara from Seperwar when they finally came out with one...but it was too small for my taste and while I do love it, I have been hankering for something more substantial.  I adore the Rundell Tiara that belonged to Queen Alexandra, Queen Maxima's Button/Star Tiara, and Queen Sophia's Star and Pearl Tiara.  I had been on the look out for quite some time for stars that I could use to make my own tiara.  I am not a jeweler and have no clue as to how to go about creating a tiara, so the tiara I had in mind had to be a simple one to create from other pieces...sort of a Frankentiara.  I finally found the perfect pieces on eBay, and they came in the mail on Saturday.  I spent last night and all this morning bring my Frankentiara to life...

Sheeeee liiiiiiiives!!!!!

I am pleased to introduce to you

The House of White Star Tiara

Inspiration

Inspiration for this simple tiara came from the following three tiaras.  Since I had to make it a simple design, I was more than thrilled to have these three babies on my Pinterest board for easy reference!

Source:  Christies

I really liked the curved "supports" that swoop between the stars on this circa 1880s tiara.  I used this inspiration to support the stars on my tiara.

Source:  Sotheby's

I like how there are just stars and nothing else on this circa 1890s tiara.  It is simple, but makes quite a statement!  

Source:  Marie's Jewels and Royals

This is such a lovely tiara.  I have tried to find more information on it, but to no avail....

Source:  Recycled Movie Costumes Tumblr

I noticed this fabulous star tiara worn by Estella, while watching the 2011 version of Great Expectations.  I thought, "Ohmygosh!  That would be so easy to make!  I just need stars in different sizes and time!!!"

I then found the stars on eBay and purchased them.  

Source:  Recycled Movie Costumes Tumblr

Theeeeeen, I was perusing Facebook and noticed that my fabulous friend Kat had posted a picture of the same tiara that had been worn on Great Expectations, being used on Galavant.  I have never seen this series, but after seeing that they used this tiara, perhaps I should!!

Ok!  On to the Star Frankentiara Tutorial!!!

Tools:

dykes

needle nose pliers

dremel tool, file, or rasp

your hands

Supplies:

super glue

stars

headpins

tiara base (I cannibalized a very old tiara for mine)

velvet ribbon or fabric cut on the bias and made into bias strips that match your hair

Star Brooch from eBay

I ordered 5 of this brooch thinking I needed 4 small tiaras and one extra, just in case.  It is a really nice brooch.  A bit darker alloy metal than the jewelry and tiaras I have ordered, but they still look pretty sweet!

I knew I would need some pretty stiff wire for the attachment of the stars.  I have used floral wire before and it is too flimsy.  So, I was happy to happen upon these wire headpins in the bead section of Michaels.

I know the headpin box says 3", but I thought I'd show the pin against the ruler.

Let's Begin!

Step 1:  Remove anything from the back from the star, such as the pin and in the case of my stars, the loop that was used to attach the chain to both stars.  Use your dykes to remove these pieces.  If you wish, you can use a dremel tool, file or rasp to smooth down the pieces of metal left behind after you remove the unwanted appendages.

I thought I'd show for reference the size of the stars.

Attaching the Stars to the Tiara Base

Step 2:  Using your super glue, affix the headpin wires to the stars.  I chose to have one of the long points be at the top, so my wire followed that design decision.  The glue and the alloy of the star had to really be coaxed into playing well with each other on some of the stars.  I found that the low setting on my hair dryer hastened the drying of the glue.  

Don't even bother working with the stars until the glue is truly and fully set.

Step 3:  Decide how tall you want your tiara.  This will determine the placement of the stars and the bending of the wire to attach the stars to the tiara base.  I just eyeballed mine.  

Step 4:  When you have decided the height of your tiara, bend the wire of the largest, middle star's wire to a 90 degree angle using the needle nosed pliers.

Step 5:  Attach your first star to the tiara base.  I just eyeballed where the center of the tiara base would be (I am sure you could measure to the exact center, but if you have been reading this blog for any time at all, you know that I don't measure...I eyeball)  Holding the wire very tightly to the tiara base, wrap the wire around the base.  Get the wire wrap as tight as you can.  Crimp with the needle nose pliers to tighten.  Then give the crimp a heavy dose of super glue.  Allow to dry.

Oh yes!!!  I bent my stars out from the tiara so they weren't sticking straight up and down...I noticed on many of the antique tiaras that they were attached at an angle....

Step 6:  Support curves.  I discovered that when I tried the tiara on after just the single wire attachment, the stars trembles and swayed...I did not like that one bit.  Searching Pinterest, I discovered the antique tiara above that has the curving support wires.  I simply bent the headpin wires in a lazy "J" formation and played around with the back of the stars until I got what I thought looked good.  I then used that one wire as a template for the rest of the wires...10 in all.

Step 7:  Attach the support wires to the right and left sides of the main wire, securing with super glue at both the tiara base and the star itself.  This will give the stars support and keep them from trembling.

Another picutre of the support wire next to the base wire.

All three wires holding the star correctly.

Use steps 1-7 to attach all 5 stars to the tiara base.  I eyeballed one side of the tiara then marked where the base wire met the tiara base on a piece of paper using a sharpie to use as a template for the other side.  If you are so inclined to use a measuring tape to place your star bases, go right on ahead!  hahahahaha!!! ;-)

I decided my stars needed to be sloped...not straight across.  Again, I eyeballed the decline in height to what looked good to me!

Attaching Bobby Pin Loops to the Tiara Base

To make the bobby pin loops, I needed a circular something to bend the headpin wire around.  I have a lovely antique, bone awl that belonged to my Great-Grandma Hazel.

For those of you who like measurements...here you go.

Step 1:  Take headpin wire and wrap it tightly around the awl making sure that it is a tight wrap.

Step 2:  Slide headpin wire off awl and cut ends so that the full length is about 1" with loop in the middle of the wire.

Step 3:  Glue loop wire in between the 2nd and 3rd star support wires on both sides of the tiara base.  Sorry for this picture...I didn't even think about photographing this step until after the tiara was completed.

I also added bobby pin loops to the very end of the tiara as this particular base didn't have any loops built into it....

Finishing the Tiara

During my research and general drool sessions on tiaras I discovered something fascinating.  One of the things that is used on many tiaras is ribbon or velvet, or velvet ribbon.  The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor has a fabulous article about Tiaras and Hair where I learned about the ribbon wrap that many tiaras sport now a days.  You guessed it!!  I also have started a Pinterest board for further research...Tiaras: Velvet Cushion Base.

For my tiara, I didn't have any velvet ribbon that would match my hair, and I am pretty sure that without an act of God, I will more than likely never find any.  I raided my silk stash and discovered some dupioni silk in a reddish-brown that comes close enough to my hair color that I am very pleased with the occurance!

Step 1:  Cut fabric on the bias, 1.5" by about 3'.  I cut mine a bit shorter and was subsequently short when wrapping my tiara base.  Better to have too much than too little.

Step 2:  Using a hot iron (Mine was on high as I was using the dupioni silk), fold bias strip in half length wise, ironing as you go.  The strip is placed under a ruler for those of you who need it.

Step 3:  Unfold bias strip and lightly iron it open.  You don't want the crease to be removed, you simply want the strip to lay open easily for step 4.

Step 4:  Take one side and fold the edge to the center fold....ironing as you go down the length of the strip.

Step 5:  Do the other side.

Step 6:  A final spraying and ironing is needed to make the bias strips nice and crisp on their folds.  Looks like the final measurement is 3/8th of an inch...right?

Step 7:  Starting on the inside of one end of the tiara base, place the very end of the bias strip on the tiara base, wrap the bias strip around it once and start a diagonal wrapping of the tiara base.

Keep the diagonal wrapping of the bias strip around the tiara base up until you come to the opposite end.

You can see here where I stuck the bias strip under the support wires and around the bobby pin loops.  You can also see the ugly back sides of the stars.  I am thinking about how to make them pretty.  Or, I may just make my hair big and fluffy so no one can see the backs of the stars.

Use a line of super glue to hold the bias strip in place at the very end of the tiara base and your tiara is complete!!

Taaaaaa Daaaaaaa!!!!

Word of warning.  If you are allergic to super glue, you might have to think of a way that your fingers won't end up looking like mine!!!  Yes, that is a ton of super glue on my fingers!

The House of White Star Tiara...this is a clearer picture of the stars, but I still can't make my camera cooperate on the angle of the picture....

Aaaand from the side!

I didn't do my hair in a Royal fashion today, so I won't have any pictures of me wearing the tiara until I get all dressed up fancy like in the future...but it does fit and it looks great!!

I hope this inspires you to make your own star tiara and if you do, I would love to see your creation!

Blessings to you my friends!!

g

Royal Orders: Order Breast Star

Edited 10/20/17

You can find the huge star in clear on eBay here:  Clear stones order star

Aaaah Royalty.  I had a friend tell me the other day that she wasn't "into" them like I was and it got me thinking.  Why am I so enamored with the thought of royalty? And not just the British royal family, all royalty in general, present and especially past.  I think the reason why I love them so is because over here in the wonderful USA, we don't have any! "Antique" royalty is so full of wonder. The stuff of fairy tales and legend, myth and reality, heartache and true love, tragedy and triumph, love matches and marriages for political gain.  The pictures of Queens and Princesses in their silks, satins, jewels, tiaras, crowns and huge feather fans, really speaks to my inner princess.  I wish I could hear what those ladies were thinking and feeling.  Were they happy, sad, miserable, content?  Did they love their life and their children and husband?

Well, to advance my Royal theme of costuming this year, I decided I needed a Royal Order.  Not a Royal Family order as I shared here.  This Royal Order would be like the many Royal Orders that are in existance today and are awarded to those who are royalty and sometimes not!  I want mine to be complete with a breast star, sash and badge as demonstrated here. Here is a list of some of the orders, most in existance today: The Order of the Thistle, The Order of the Elephant, The Order of the Golden Fleece, The Royal Victorian Order, and The Order of St. Andrew.

First on the list for my Royal Order was the breast star.  I found some lovely sites online that sold reproduction stars, Replica Reglia and Quarterdeck Medals & Militaria.  While they have great reproductions, the price of the stars was a bit out of my budget for costume jewelry.  So, I spent about a week combing eBay, etsy, Hobby Lobby, Charming Charlie, Macy's, Dillards, JC Penney, Kohls, etc. Nothing presented itself to be even remotely close to a royal order star.  Then I happened upon a store on eBay that sold "bridal rhinestone jewelry".  "Ok" I said to myself, this is the last store we will look at.  I scrolled down their hundreds of brooches and necklaces and my eyes landed on a brooch.  THE brooch.  Holy mother of pearl!!!  This was it!  Well...not really, it would need a lot of work, but THIS WAS IT!!!  I am a DIY girl anyways so I was even more thrilled at the prospect of this project.  Below is a long list of pictures and research that brought me to my Royal Order Breast Star!  I still need to come up with a great name and story behind my order, but for now I am just seriously content at the brooch that is pinned to my Emma mannequine!

My Royal Order!!

My Finished Royal Order!  I am incredibly beyond happy with how it turned out!  For some reason, the pearlized ivory disk under the double headed eagle is photographing with a green tint...

A list of real Royal Orders

Breast Star of The Most Noble Order of the Garter, United Kingdom
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Information about The Most Noble Order of the Garter can be found here:

The Coincidental Dandy

Wikimedia image

The breast star of The Order of the Rose, Brazil
Photo courtesy of  Royal Ark website

The Order of the Rose is one of my favorite breast stars...hello diamonds and pink roses!!  And it came with a pink sash!!

Information on the Order of the Rose can be found here:

Royal Ark

Breast Star of the Order of St. Patrick, United Kingdom
Photo courtesy of The Tudors Wiki

Information on the Order of St. Patrick can be found here:

The Tudors Wiki

The Doyle Clan 

Breast Star of the Order of St. Catherine, Imperial Russia
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Information on the Order of St. Catherine can be found here:

Alexander Palace Time Machine

Wikimedia

Lovely Ladies wearing their Royal Orders!

Princess Alexandra of The United Kingdom wearing the breast star of The Order of the Garter.  She is also wearing three Royal Family Orders: The Order of Victoria and Albert, The Impreial Order of the Crown of India, and another one that I am not sure of it's name...more research will be done!
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

More information can be found here:

Wikipedia

Rafe Heydel-Mankoo

Queen Mary or the United Kingdom wearing the breast star, sash, and arm garter of the Order of the Garter
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Tsarina Maria Feodorovna of Imperial Russia wearing the breast star of the Order of St. Catherine
Photo courtesy of Grand Ladies blog

Wonderful website that contains many photos and paintings of the Grand Ladies of yesteryear

Grand Ladies

The process by which I acquired my Royal Order

Newely arrived bridal sunflower brooch from eBay

eBay link for brooch

The very hour I got my brooch in the mail, I started pulling the "Clear AB" crystals off the brooch.  ( I used my seam ripper and a lot of elbow grease to remove them.)  I left one "ray" alone so I could use it for correct placement of the clear crystals I would glue back on.

I found these at Hobby Lobby.  Perfect, as the package contained an assortment of sizes! 

Brooch with the "Clear AB" crystals removed and the clear crystals glued in place.

Please note that if any of you lovely followers plan on doing this, and you are using super glue to glue in your crystals, be very careful when glueing.  I got too much glue on a whole ray of crystals and they turned cloudy.  I don't know if it is the chemical make-up of the glue messing with the crystals or what, but use caution and a minimal amount of glue! 

Small crown buttons from Hobby Lobby

I noticed on a few of the real breast stars, there were neat little crowns above the center medallion.  I found the above buttons and Hobby Lobby and knew they would be perfect!

Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky

Order of St. Catherine

Earrings found at a local antique store.  The double headed eagle medallion would be perfect for the center of my star!

After I had my crystals and button crown glued to my star, the hard part came.  I needed a medallion for the center of my star.  I had looked and looked and looked for what seemed like forever (Nooooo...patience is NOT one of my virtues!) and I couldn't find anything that blew my skirt up!  Finally, yesterday, I went to a local antique store and literally spent 1.5 hours going over the place with a fine toothed comb.  I finally found a pair of earrings that had what would pass for a doable medallion.  I still wasn't convinced until I took them home, disassembeled them and layed them on the star.

................

I do believe I shattered my poor husband's ear drums I squeeled so loudly with delight!  I was so excited that pure joy was bubbling up in my chest!  Needless to say, I was pretty happy with how the double headed medallion looked on my star!  I also think it is pretty neat that the earrings had the emblem on them that they did.  I am fascinated with the Royal Family of Imperial Russia and the emblem for them was the Imperial Double Headed Eagle.  Too fun!

Disassembled earrings...thank you for your sacrifice!

Another shot of my completed Royal Order breast star!  I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out!

Now that the star is done, I am on the look out for a badge.  I am pretty sure my ribbon will be a dark red as I think it will go well with the color of dress I am planning on making!

More great information on Royal Orders can be found here:

Unofficial Royalty

This AWESOME blog has this great post about the orders that Royals around the world still use.  I will re-visit this when I post about the sash that will go with my breast star:

The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor

A very long read but this article has great information from an Encyclopedia fro 1911 on Royal Orders.  

The Book Inspectors Collaboration League

My Pinterest board dedicated to Royal Orders...I was dismayed to discover that a bunch of pins I pinned from another pinner didn't have references...I will hopefully be finding out where the pins come from in the future...

Pinterest

Until next time my lovely friends!  I hope I have inspired you to make your own Royal Order Star!  Please share your stars with me if you decide to make your own!

Blessings!

g