Whether You Call It a Fascinator, Cocktail Hat, or Whimsy, a Little Trim Goes a Long Way

When I published the poll results showing the tutorials you would like to see here, I was a little disappointed with the results (disappointed is too strong), although they were anticipated.  After all, how many people would like to make buckram frames and cover them--a labor-intensive process on larger hats?   As you can see, the highest score went to trim. So, for this tutorial I decided to use two things that almost all of us have access to, feathers and horsehair (crin).

I like to make flat pattern, buckram frame hats; wire frame hats, large brimmed straw hats.  I'm in a meditative state when I'm hand sewing an intricate design, or solving a design issue, or experimenting with a new technique.  I never give trim that much thought.  I put very little trim on my hats.  Most of the time I prefer to make my own trim.  Other times simplicity, line, and contrast are my friends.  Trim, in some cases, would only obscure them. This only applies to my design style, for I like many different design styles.  Thus, I was hoping that flat pattern buckram frames would be the high scorer.  So, I looked on the positive side, and I pulled out all of the stuff I continuously collect, like fabrics for flowers, leaves, feathers, etc., etc.  After all I'm always putting off making the trim I do use.  The journey will be fun.

I didn't plan to put a veil on this fascinator, only the feather.  While in class, (I've been taking classes for a few decades now), I was laughing and talking with my classmates and not paying attention to what I was doing.  I had originally planned to put the prettiest section of my swirled crown to the front of the hat.  Coming off from those swirls was a length of cascading, unraveled horsehair.  Well, I put the front to the back by accident, so I cut off the cascading horsehair and added the veil you see here. The back of the hat is where the grosgrain ends and begins.  That reminds me, I should always have you to mark the center front and center back when constructing your hats.  This is intuitive to me but may not be to someone new to millinery.

On to the tutorial....

You will need a fascinator base, of course.  See the sinamay base tutorial or the buckram base tutorial, if you would like to make your own, or purchase a read made one; horsehair, an ostrich or other type of feather, a paint marker or acrylic paint (optional), and a hat elastic; including scissors, needles, paint brush, and thread.  See last post.

The Feather

I presented two YouTube tutorials in the last post, Working With Feathers 101 and Cutting Feathers.  I added these two tutorials because they dealt with stripping and cutting feathers.  The important thing here is the cutting of the feathers.  Note that the feathers are cut from the top down, very important.

Not so noticeable in these images is the pointed tip on the feather.  So, strip the feather and leave enough on the feather for a point.  Cut the end of the feather from the top down on each side, forming a spear shape.  Pin the feather to your ironing board as shown in the image.  Now, without touching the feather, run your steam iron along the length of the feather.  After the feather has dried, remove the pins.   The feather will hold its shape.  The point here is that feathers can be shaped by bending them into position and steaming them.  Of course there are other methods, and I will address them at another time.  Plus, you may also go to YouTube or other locations on the Web for videos on the subject.  Research, practice, experiment.

 If you have a colored feather, paint its sides where the stripping has removed its color.

Because I wanted my feather to appear as if it was floating on my hat, I used a small hand drill to drill holds in its side of the feather.  After which, I painted the the holes with a marker.  I should have drilled the holes before I painted the feather sides--a senior moment.  After the feather had dried I sprayed it with shellac because the acrylic had dulled the finish.  Also, notice the transparent thread I used to sew my horsehair and feather onto fascinator base.  This would be considered unorthodox...oh well.

The Horsehair Vail

Horsehair is an amazing material that can be manipulated in wonderful ways.  It can be cut and torn as shown in this video, also from the previous post.  It can be blocked on a hat block or it can be blocked using a pressing iron.  You're only limited by your imagination.  Experiment, experiment, experiment.

Making the veil is pretty straight forward.  Simply stick your finger through the horsehair and rotate it until the hole is as large as you would like it to be.  Using your iron with a protective foot attach and steam (I use steam) or a damp pressing cloth with steam turned off, press over the holes.  They are now set in place.  For a little challenge, put in the ripples around the edge of the veil.

The point here:  know the materials you are working with so that if you don't find a technique in a book or from an instructor, you can achieve the goal you set out to achieve.  Just by knowing that it is possible to block (form, shape with steam, dry heat, hand manipulation, etc.) horsehair, it is easy to figure out how to create the holes in it.  Take note that you don't have to do something exactly the same way someone else do it.  Your goal is to achieve sound results that will hold up over time, leaving you with a light, neat, and well made hat.

The Horsehair Swirl (crown)

In order to form the crown, simply pull the horsehair down and out while pressing it.  You'll get the hang of it after practicing.  Press both edges.  Do not press the center.


Finishing Up

So, you have your fascinator base, I used a sinamay base from the last tutorial.  All you have to do now is attach your crown, veil, and hat elastic.  I'll let you figure this out.  It'll be your challenge.

Remove the thread from the edge of the horsehair.  It will not ravel!

Below is a cute video showing various ways of trimming a hats.

FASHION FEATURE (click on black box to start movie)

Foundations for My Cocktail/Fascinator Hats

Within a few weeks I need to make quite a few hats  for the Downtown Fashion Walk this month.  The only way that I could possibly make the number of hats I will need is to make smaller hats; thus, I will be concentrating on cocktail hats.  I always have something sitting in the corner that needs to be completed.  In this case I had blocked a buckram frame that I was going to use for a draped hat.  Well I decided to make cocktail hat foundations from the frame instead.

Before I get started, I promised you more free on-line millinery book sources.  One of the most extensive collections of free on-line millinery books that I'm aware off is the University of Wisconsin's Digital Collection, The human Ecology Collection.  I have created a search for you located here.  I suggest that you read as many of these books as possible, take as many millinery classes from as many instructors as possible (even the bad ones), and finally practice, practice, and experiment, experiment.  Oh, don't let anyone tell you that something has to be done a particular way...but please don't use a glue gun!



Using a compass, I drew circles on the frame.  Because the utility block has nice curves, these curves would be realized in the small frames that I cut from my original blocked frame. I could have drawn a teardrop, a headband, or any irregular shape onto the buckram.


After cutting my little frames out I wired them using a buttonhole stitch.  To show how the wires could be finished off, I overlapped the wire of one frame and sewed it into place.  I used a millinery wire joiner on the other frame, crimped the joiner to the wire using a jewelry bead crimper.  Before I discovered this little tool I used wire cutters to crimp and secure the joiners to the wire.



Next I covered the millinery wire with a bias strip of crinoline, attaching it with a running stitch.  It's important to attach crinoline to the frame for two reasons--
 to cover the wire and to provide an anchor  for attaching the fabric.  I then covered the upper frame with wadding (not shown, see the Vase Hat post).

My next step was to cover the prepared frame with fabric.  I pinned the fabric to the frame by first pinning the right side, then the left, then the bottom, then the top.  In other words 1/2s, 1/4s, 1/8s, etc.  This causes the fabric to fit the frame better--an even pull.  Notice the curved needle at the bottom of the images at left and bottom.  I use a curved needle when I have a difficult time retrieving the needle from the fabric.

When a curved needle is used the needle exits the fabric in a curve, thus making it easier to pull the needle out of the fabric.  You could also save your bent millinery needles and use them for this purpose.  I  used the whip stitch to attach the fabric and the feather trim to the frame.

I'm such a plain Jane when it comes to trimming a hat.  I prefer very little if any trim, but I realize that many prefer a little bling.  So, I'll add some trim, put in a lining and headband, and finally add a hat elastic.  I'll post pictures after I trim this little hat.