in this instructable i will show you how to make a beautiful 1920's style feather headband.

combined with a flapper dress it will make the perfect outfit for the next swing-party, halloween, karneval or whenever you want to look fabolous.

here it goes:

Step 1: You Will Need

- a rest of black fabric
- 30 cm of black shiny rooster feathers sewed onto a band, i bought mine on ebay just like here
- 5 or 6 peacock tail feather ends
- sequin in colors matching the feathers
- elastic band that goes well with your feathers and beads, i was lucky and found a really beautifull one with black and golden stripes.
- needles and black thread, sewing machine (optional)

Step 2: Making the Base

from the rest of the fabric, cut out two semi-circles with a diameter of 8 cm. leave 1 cm of seam allowance on all sides.

pin the 2 semicircles together, right side on right side, sew them together leaving a 4 cm wide opening.

cut away the seam allowance at the corners and make several cuts into the seam allowance at the round part, then turn the whole thing over so that the right side is outside.

pin the opening shut and sew once around the semicircle close to the edge, closing the oepning on the way.

your base is ready.

Step 3: Attach the Rooster Feathers

pin the rooster feathers around the round part of the semi-circle of the base and sew them onto it, i sewed twice to make it extra sturdy.

Step 4: Attach the Peacock Feathers

from now on you only have to sew by hand - if you don't have a sewing machine you could have done the first 2 steps by hand as well.

try how many peacock feathers you will need, depending on their size yoi will need 5 or 6.

trim the peacock feathers so that only the eye part is left.

now sew the feathers onto the base by hand one by one so that they form a nice semi-circle in front of the peacock feathers.

in the middle where all the feathers meet it will look a bit messy but we will sew sequins on top of that in the next step.

Step 5: Sequinapalooza

befor we start a funny little sequin anecdote:
the sequins i used for this project are actually really old vintage sequins i bought on a fleamarket once. only then i did not know how old they really were and so i spent some hours sequining away to add some nice decor on a jacket of mine. with time passing by the jacket got dirty and so i put it in the washing mashine and "poof" when i took it out all the sequins had magically disappeared. only the stitching that once held them in place was there. so where had they gone? to sequin - nirvana?
it was only revealed to me some time later when i when to a historic fashion exhibition that before the plastic-era sequins were made out of gelatin. so when i washed them they just dissolved (as gelatin does) in the water. that was literally several hours of tedious work down the drain.
so the moral of the story: when you buy vintage sequins from the fleamarket, test one of them in a glass of water first or just use them on projects that will never be washed or only dry cleaned - like this one.

so now that this story was told the sequining can start: what i did was sewing concentric semicircles of sequins over the ends of the peacock feathers, you could also try something different, as long as it's covering up the ends of the feathers.

sequining takes a long time (and some toll on your fingertips), i strongly recommend watching some tv or a movie to make the time pass a little easier.

Step 6: The Band

put the elastic band around your head to see how long it has to be - it should be tight but comfortable. add 2 cm of seam allowance to that length. pin the ends of the band together and sew them together.

now hand sew the featherpiece to the elasic band. sew from the back of the piece so that the stitching can't be seen from the front.
it is best to sew the part of the band with the seam to the featherpiece, so that the seam is almost invisible (see picture).

you're done! have fun with your new headband!