Last Minute Kentucky Derby Hat

So, have I told you I don't wear hats?  I might pull on a ball cap or a beach hat, but I am not a fancy-schmancy hat kind of girl that looks glamorous in a big floppy number with a sundress.  I feel so dumb trying to pull it off! (**I'm sure there is some joke with the line "does this hat make my ass look big?" as a punchline)

I searched high and low to find a hat to wear to a Kentucky Derby Gala (to benefit Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh, a great organization that provides residential homes for persons with disabilities).  After trying on more than a dozen different styles of hats, I realized I was never going to feel comfortable in anything large or "hat-like" that day.

I started to think about last year's Halloween costume and the hairpiece I wore that day...hmmm...

Then I thought about Princess Kate...

I wandered into Claire's looking for some sort of hairpiece that might pass for a hat. I ended up with $17 worth of hair clips as supplies to create my own "fascinator".

I ended up choosing two clips, one flat with feathers and one with loops of ribbon for some height:

 

I decided I was going to create  a "fascinator" that would match my dress since I had gone about things backward and chosen a dress before the hat...gasp!

I added 2 peacock feathers I already had at home to pick up the green in my dress and sandwiched them between the two hair clips then clipped the top clip to the bottom clip - It didn't even require glue so I can dissemble and use them again for another project or add different feathers to match another dress!

Here is a shot of the front and back in the mirror:

It clips in easy-peasy, I hardly even feel it!  It's like wearing a barrette so I'm totally comfortable and the green in the feathers matches my dress spot on!  Off the the Kentucky Derby...