Get ahead, get a hat!

Well not exactly a hat, in truth a Fascinator!

Last weekend my EG branch held a Fascinator workshop, something New to Me so naturally I had to give it a go :)

I don't actually have a need for a Fascinator at the moment but I knew that my daughter-in-law is due to attend a friend's wedding in April as we are babysitting the gorgeous grandson whilst they are there, so I offered to make one for her at the workshop. There was a proviso that she wasn't obliged to wear whatever I produced :)

We started off by making the base of the Fascinator, which comprises a circle of grey Sinamay fabric folded to create a peak then covered with bias binding to cover the raw edges. Millinery wire is then basted around the edge of the Fascinator base and covered again with bias binding, which is then covered again with a double-fold Sinamay bias binding.

That took all of the several hours of the workshop to complete! There may well have been some chatting and tea drinking went on too :)

After tossing several ideas around in my head on how to embellish the base I decided that I needed feathers so one order to Petershams Millinery Supplies later and these beauties arrived in the post.

I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them, but I knew that I would have fun trying out different ideas!

We had been sent home with lots of extra Sinamay fabric to complete our Fascinators, so I cut a 2.5" bias strip folded in the edges then ironed and stretched the strip to provide the material for a loopy addition to the base.

I had some of the double-fold bias binding from the brim left over so looped that around and added it too. The curled pheasant quill was the perfect addition.

It felt a bit plain still, so I dug out some seed beads and added a few of those too to catch the light when it is worn.

I have enough Sinamay left over to make another Fascinator all I need add is some Millinery wire and a comb, so I think another Fascinator might be in the making.

One thing is for sure if my daughter-in-law does end up wearing this to her friend's wedding, there won't be another one there like it!

I am linking this up to this week's TGIFF hosted by Vera at Negligent Style. If you would like to showcase a finish by hosting the TGIFF link party sign up here to join the fun.