I made a hat!

I have a friend’s wedding coming up and Mr King is the bestman. It’s also my birthday so a doubly special day.

I used this as a challenge to have a shot at millinery. There’s some fun tutorials online for making fascinators and hats. I spent quite a lot of time on Pinterest as well getting inspiration.

I chose a teardrop shaped simflex which I got off eBay. I also decided on a hairband rather than a comb. I’ve worn both and prefer the security of a hairband. I also got some ivory merry widow netting.

Finally my husband went on a shoot recently and got a couple of pheasants as payment for his services. He saved me the tail feathers and an assortment of other shorter feathers.

So I had a whole range of supplies and no freaking idea what to do next.

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Big pause while I think

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Step 1: I wrapped ribbon round the hairband with a few blobs of hot glue at various points to hold it.

Step 2: I stitched the base onto the hairband at 2 points.

Step 3: I got the merry widow net and after a lot of posturing in the mirror chose a couple of points to anchor it. I’d hoped to do a sultry over eye netting but I looked like a dick so I got rid of that idea.

Step 4: chose feathers, arrange them, glue them and then bind them with ribbon. I then glued a jaunty button on to hide a bit of the ribbon.

Step 5: attach feathers to hat using a few stitches and a blob of glue.

And ta dah! Here is the finished result. I’m really rather proud of this project. I feel like I need a Blue Peter badge for working this out.

I also feel fearless and will definately be making another one. Sadly this is probably the last wedding for a long time. Maybe I can just wear hats to do the shopping or walk the dog?