My lovely cousin, Michelle, asked me recently to design a fascinator for an upcoming wedding she is going to.  She very kindly told me to let my creativity run wild for this one.  The only instruction being that she will be wearing a mix of black, silver and steely greys.  To be completely honest, I found myself with too many ideas and struggled at first with the freedom!  Finally I got to work and made 4 different designs for her to choose from.

At the present time she has not seen any of them – and could very easily ask for something completely different!  To which I would not be at all upset.  I’ve had a fantastic time coming up with the new ideas, and have many more as a result of it.  On top of this, each design will feature in the Head Full of Feathers shop, each on a 'made to order' basis with many options to have them made in custom colours.

So, Michelle, it’s over to you – which do you like?
And everyone else... which do you like?

This first one is a teardrop fascinator/cocktail hat in purple.  I made the feather part of the fascinator from peacock feathers which I dyed black.  Due to the iridescent nature of a peacock feather, the black shimmers in purples, blues and pale greens.  The peacock feathers are arranged into a flower formation (the Head Full of Feathers signature!) and complimented by two jet black turkey arrow feathers and three floating coque feathers.  The whole piece is nestled upon a heart shaped merry widow birdcage veil.  Edged with black velvet to frame the face, a little bit like the brim of a hat would.

The second fascinator is a ruffled flower made up of silver birdcage veiling, polka dot fabric, steely silver organza and black tulle.  There is a rather Regal feel to wearing this fascinator - I think it's all the layers of textures and colour.  From the back is a fan of metallic silver birdcage veiling. shadowed by 3 long black iridescent rooster tail feathers and 2 white stripped coque feathers.  The contrast between the dense flower, and the movement of the feathers give the fascinator another dimension, unfortunately that doesn't some across in a still photo!

Now, this one I call the 'Queen of Hearts'.  I was completely taken with the idea of using the birdcage veiling in a different way.  I sewed a big roll of wire covering it with ribbon, then stiched the veiling to it to create panels.  I then curled and twisted these panels into the shapes you see here.  The curling spirals and the chaos of it all gave me a real Alice in Wonderland moment.  It was at this point I thought; 'surely I can cut a stripped coque feather into a heart shape?'  And here is the result, fresh from the rabbit hole.

For this piece I went for a classic vintage feel.  I wanted to use the base of the fascinator in more of a cocktail hat kind of a way so left the very front of it mostly bare.  I found this vintage rhinestone piece to add sparkle to a fascinator that would otherwise be predominantly black.   The main body of the fascinator is made from spiky feathers and soft flowing ostrich feathers - so important to have a mix of textures when using just one colour, i feel.  Beneath these is a single dyed black peacock feather.  
To complete the vintage cocktail hat feeling is a short birdcage veil, and a single soft ostrich feather flowing from the back.