11 Jun DIY: feather + beaded no-sew headpiece

For those of you who are just joining us on our new adventure, thank you for visiting Blueprint Society! We’ve been promising this DIY, and it has finally arrived! Feather headpieces have been in the fashion scene for sometime now, but unfortunately often come with a hefty price tag! For the photographer, stylist, or mommy who wants to have the look for less, we’ve pulled together a quick DIY to inspire your next photo shoot!

In shooting our quick ‘Into the Woods’ styled session, highlighting our favorite eco-chic dress designer, Courtney Courtney, we envisioned something a little wild, a little retro, and totally comfortable for the headpiece of our model. When I am looking for a fun project, I often hit up the ‘ol Hobby Lobby and find an insane amount of fun to work with. I can literally spend HOURS combing the isles for inspiration, and this DIY is no exception.

First, let’s get to our materials list:

Materials:

• Feathers
• Cord/twine (natural fiber works best here)
• beads (same diameter hole as your cord if possible)
• faux leather/suede straps
• headband ribbon (studded gold shown)
• glue dots
• hot glue gun
• elastic
• felt
• 3-4 inches double sided satin ribbon (1-in wide)

Method:

• Measure your subject’s head and subtract 4 inches. This will be your cut headband ribbon length.
• Cut a 2 inch section of elastic. Hot glue or glue dot each end to the cut ends of your headband ribbon to make a continuous loop.
• Add felt dots to cover the glue. (optional: to make the headpiece last longer, you can stitch the ends here, but glue held fine for one shoot!)

• Next, gather and hot glue your feathers at their bases to make an artful arrangement. I found these feathers in the wedding section and added a few from the craft section of the store, but use any selection you wish to make a tight gathered tuft that is balanced and not TOO heavy for a model to wear!
• Once the feathers are glued, wrap them tightly with satin ribbon in a coordinating color and hot glue into a neat knot.

• Next, place and hot glue (or stitch for permanence) the feathers slightly off-center within the loop, ensuring that the front is facing outside and you have enough glue to hold the weight of your feathers.
• Braided beads time! Find any combination of beads you like here to work with your color scheme, and go to town stringing two lengths of cord with beads. Tie your cord off to secure the beads. (My cords were cut to about 16 inches each, along with 2 lengths of faux suede ribbon.)
• Braid the cords and ribbon to make a smooth organic length with about 3 inches below the knot for dangling loosely.
• All done! Now just take some pics and share with us at info{at}blueprintsociety.com! We’d love to see your inspired creations come to life!