Peacock Hat

This evening I worked on a hat that's a little different from what I usually do. A few colleagues and I are going to a game gala next week, and my boss asked if I could make a hat for her. She suggested peacock feathers to match her deep blue outfit. I gladly accepted the challenge and this is what came out!

The fascinator is very thin and covered in peacock feather eyes in a scale-like pattern. There's a small veil on the back with a few sequins sewed on it. I trimmed the lowers parts of a few peacock feathers to use as the plume, they have a lovely coppery sheen that the camera didn't quite pick up. I tried many feathers but most seemed too heavy for the purpose, since the base is so vibrant with the eyes, the plume needed to be more toned down and very light. I had already deemed the de-eyed feathers for cat toys, but luckily I tried how they looked, because their shape works well in guiding the gaze downwards. There's also a tiny bit of black marabou to hide the edge of the plume and the veil.

I think this one might have even worked without the plume and veil, it would have been a very interesting piece with just the eyes. Maybe I'll try that later, and with a larger batch of feathers, since now I only had 12 to choose from and they were very different sizes so it was hard to find matching ones for the rows.

Gorgeous colours!