The Lost Art of Beautiful Fascinators

I really, really, want to make a fascinator. You know, those funky little dainties women have been perching on the tops of their heads for a day at the races?

I especially love the fabulous fascinator king, (my title, not his) Philip Treacy. He designed Camilla Parker-Bowles wedding hat (see above) and Sarah Jessica Parker's Sex in the City movie premiere hat. So lovely; I think SJP is licking her lips because she is not immune to how delectable her hat is. Philip Treacy basically makes hats for anybody who is anybody in the UK. Hats are not so popular in the U.S. OK, maybe in the south at the Kentucky Derby they are still popular, but I live in the Pacific Northwest, a place where if someone puts on socks they think they are dressed up.

This butterfly hat of Treacy's is especially out of control--I love it!

I want to take a hat making class but, again, it is slim pickings in this area. There is a class in Seattle and I found one in Portland, but they are multiple day and hundreds of dollars. So, I am going to start with embellishing some simple hair clips and ordering a book from Amazon and moving on from there. I bought some lovely green and gray felts that I want to use in a hat and I am thinking a matching purse too. But that is going to be a little more complicated. I found some hat bases on ETSY that I might just have to order too.
We are going to a dinner and auction tomorrow night for the Emergency Food Network and I want to felt something and attach it with some feathers to the little black feather clip I picked up at Joann Fabrics today. Too many ideas, so little time.