DIY fascinators

I have a wedding to go to in October. It’s a posh one, meaning that my staple wedding ‘do’ of hair wet-set on rollers and pinned back behind my ears won’t be enough; a hat is called for.

I love hats – on other people. Personally, I tend to feel self-conscious even with just a large hair-clip. However, I have had a thing about navy blue birdcage veils for a while so, when arranging a fascinator workshop for a friend’s hen-do in June, I decided to take the plunge.

The workshop was run by Maggie Mowbray, founder of Tramp Millinery. For two hours, we had the free reign of Maggie’s materials and advice. We were also able to make special requests (such as my navy blue veiling) in advance.

We discovered three great things about fascinator making:

1. It doesn’t necessarily take that long.
2. You only need the most basic of sewing skills.
3. Even if you really aren’t artistic (like me), you can produce something that you might actually wear.

Being nervous of hats, I also found it great to be able to make something I liked and which I felt suited me. I find so many of the fascinators in shops are all about feathers and pastels, and that just isn’t my style.

Anyway, here are some of our finished results:

Sinamay base covered with fabric; brown feather trim.

Sinamay base with brooch and feather plume.

Sinamay base covered with Chinese fabric base; black net and sinamay trim.

My creation – sinamay base with white lace decoration and blue net veil.

For the wedding, I’m teaming what I made (bottom right) with a navy pencil dress, red lipstick and (given we will be in a probably-unheated village church in October in the UK) some wrist-length dress gloves.

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