DIY: How to make a feather hair fascinator

I promised I'd show you the hairpiece I made for the Kentucky Derby themed party! I probably shouldn't have waited until about 3 hours before the bit show to get started. LOL.

Here's what I did, and keep in mind, that I wanted it to be big and showy for the party, so this is not something I'd wear to the grocery store. Well, I could, but people would point and laugh at me.
(more than usual).

I started by cutting a piece of doe suede in the shape of a tear drop. It's about 1.5" wide by 2.5" long. I used doe suede because it's what I had and was sturdy. You could use a piece of leather, felt, etc.

I then cut the bottoms off of 3 peacock feathers about an inch from the center eye. Keep the bottom parts, I used those too! Arrange the feathers on the doesuede how you'd like them, and glue with a hot glue gun. I started with the 2 outside feathers and then the center one on top.

I decided it wasn't big enough (I keep telling you I'm a displaced Texan) and so I used the bottom piece as a filler in the back. I added a few little sparse feather pieces and glued them to the middle end so it didn't look all chopped up.

I then remembered that I was supposed to use chicken feathers too! I wanted a few little filler feathers which I had some barred rock short feathers and a couple Rhode Island Red rooster tail feathers.

Place your feather on a surface that you can cut on. A piece of cardboard or a self healing mat. With a very sharp pen knife, cut along the shaft of the feather to about 1 inch from the tip on each side. Trim as close to the shaft as possible. You may need to use a pair of scissors to shape the feather tip.

I then bundled them together and glued them at the base of the other feathers. (I didn't get photos as now I'm in a huge hurry!).

After I was all done, I pinned an antique brooch on the leftover piece of fabric tab on the end. I glued this whole shebang to a headband because it was too heavy for a clip. Actually, I glued it to a clip and figured out it wasn't going to work, so I glued that AND the clip to the headband.

Don't do it that way.

Also don't be in a hurry.

To give it a little extra oomph, I cut a small piece of birdcage veil and pinned it in my hair before putting the headpiece on.

Excuse the crappy light, this was in my kitchen when we got home. I was too lazy to try anything else.

{I are a photo grapher person.}

If I were going to continue to wear it, I'd cut out the filler piece and trim back some of the eye feathers so it wouldn't be quite so big.


It was a big hit - and looked very nice with my wedding dress. Yep, I wore one of my wedding dresses! (I had two). It doesn't look like a wedding dress though. I mean, how often am I going to have the chance to wear a full length dress out?

The down side to this, is that now I have someone wanting me to make them one. This is how it all gets started.
It's all down hill from here.