Nine Times....

...out of ten, there is no plan.  Often, things go well...sometimes they don't.  Today, I thought, shall work on the last of the fascinator bases I've been talking about... and couldn't find the damn thing.  While I was hunting it in the studio (where it wasn't...), I came across a butterfly that said, you could combine me with the small silk flower you made just to see if it was too small...and the purple covered comb you made ages ago....

I can do that, thinks I.  Overthinks, in fact; see the wire that the butterfly is on, has been attached to a needle, to allow me to thread it through the flower, because the wire wouldn't go through on its own...   Well, it wouldn't go through on a needle either...but it did go straight through the heart of the flower.  So far so good.

And then, gentle reader, it all went to hell in a handcart.  Trying to attach the combination was beyond fiddly.  And then this happened :

Note to self : Things that are made of feathers are not suitable for this sort of thing, altogether too delicate. Dammit. If you have to, then attach it at the end....more chance of it staying in one piece.  Though in truth, if it breaks that easily, don't put it on a comb...it'll be safer on a hat.  And really, I should have used glue; stitching the flower on to a sinamay covered comb is almost impossible.  Trying to stitch on the top level only, without getting the thread caught in the tines of the comb would try the patience of a saint.  Growl.  So, what am I left with?

Pretty enough...but not worth the effort, I suspect.  Sorry the photos are awful today, lousy light and not my usual camera...sigh.  At least I finally found the missing fascinator base, and can proceed accordingly.

Next...

came the pink fascinator...here's what it looked like pinned to the block.

Not terribly prepossessing...and it doesn't look all that much better trimmed up and ready to wire...

Once that was done, and the binding was on...

...I thought...now what.  Note the fading on the sinamay; nothing wrong with the fabric, just faded colour, so whatever I chose to do, had to cover that section, at least.  I really didn't know what to do...and then, raking about in a box, found the daffodils I made a while ago, just to see if I could.  Three of them made from lutradur, the trumpets heavily stitched.  They went nicely with the pink tone of the hat, so I stitched them together...

...and then added them to the base...

...and now we're talking... this works really well.  But just as I was putting things away, I came across a pale green piece of florist wrapping, very similar to lutradur, and thought it might be interesting to use it round the edge of the hat...

 
Looks better in real life... so I stuck it on my head, no mirror (too tired to get up and fiddle around...), and here's a rough idea of what it looks like...

The green edging has only been tacked on, but I think it gives you an idea of what it will look like once it's properly sewn on.  I'm quite pleased with this; really must play with more lutradur flowers...and with lutradur in hat making in general... hmm..

Decoration...

...is the real art of the fascinator.  Here's what it looks like now.

That's a silk organza rose, made from my hand dyed cloth, cut on the bias (yes, the b word again...seems to crop up frequently in millinery, doesn't it?).  Hand stitched, and then hand stitched onto the base.  Five feathers, a similar colour to the base (champagne, it's called), glued and stitched on.  I've tried adding some hand stitched feathers to that base, but it seems rather cluttered when I do, so I suspect it'll stay as it is.  Now that it has some decoration on it, it doesn't seem quite so large; the proof of that will be when it's actually worn, of course. 

There are three options for wearing it.  I could put a comb on it, so that it sits on the head that way.  I think it's too large for that, and besides, I don't like combs in general, except as a basis for tiny little headpieces.  I could also put it on a headband, which I would cover with bias, like this...

There is a remarkable amount of hand stitch involved in millinery, and this is no different.  But it doesn't really suit the way I envisage it sitting on the head, so it'll need to be the third option, a  very narrow elastic band that hides under the hair, and holds the piece in place.  Now all I have to do is work out where the one or two bands I have left are hiding, and attach them.  It'll not be today, though.... but I promise to show you how it ends up.