Creating Plumes from Barbs

The large pom-pom on Louise’s riding hat. Queen Louise in a riding habit, c. 1810 by Ternite.

I have been making ostrich pompoms of one sort or another for years. This is a military looking pompom for a Regency hat from one of my hat patterns.

I made this giant pompom for the Edwardian red, white and blue hat shown below.

Even though I still use the same method, I learned some interesting things from some vintage/antique examples. This brown one….

This navy blue one…..

they are different sizes and are put together a little differently. The brown one looks different because it is trimmed near the tip the blue one is not. Which makes the blue drape more.

With the brown one it is easier to see how it was put together. You can see the wire holding the barbs to the center core. The blue one does not have wire and that is another reason it drapes more.

If you hold it up to the light you can see how the barbs spiral around the center wire. The blue one is too dense to see this spiral.

Find two or more lower sections of Ostrich wing feathers. Betermine the shortest length of any of your barbs (discounting and broken ones). Aline one side of the feather segment so the ends are even with the base line of the mat.

Use some 1/4″ wide double sided paper back tape and run it along the barbs that come off the center stem even with a line on the mat.

Turn the feather segment over and run the tape along the same line. Repeat with the other side of the feather segment so you get the same length of barbs.

Cut the barbs loose from the stem just to the inside of the tapes. You can use a rotary cutter or scissors. Note the remaining barb segments left on the center stem are different on each side of the feather. The barbs on Ostrich wing feathers are usually different each side depending on which wing they come from.

Repeat with the other feather fragment. Now you have 4 strings of barbs with tape on both sides. It a good idea to press down hard on the tapes to make sure all the barbs are stuck.

I’m using a piece of twist cord here but you could use covered stem wire.

Pull the tape backing back on the backside of the barbs, stick the end of your cord to the barbs at a 45° angle. If you were making a 1/2 round pompom then you would use a covered wire with a short fold over and start at a 90° angle.

Start rolling back along the lower tape leaving it behind as you go. If you think that the tape will not be enough over time to hold the barbs you can run a wire or carpet thread just to the feather side of the tape keeping it tight as you roll.

Continue to wrap, this is what mine looked like after the first strip. I just overlapped my tape you could overlap more for a shorter denser puff.

This is after the second wrap. Always keep the upper side if the barbs on the outside of the wrap and the underside (backside) of the barbs on the inside of the wrap.

This is after the third set of barbs were added. In the end it was about 12″ long. Which is not that much shorter than the two segments of feather I started with.

I curled the ends with the backside of my scissors but not the full barbs. Looking thru the Eaton’s catalogue it seems like that was the thing to do.

Because I put it on cord it is very flexible and could be added anywhere on the hat even with a portion hanging over the brim. I wish I had hat maybe 4 more feather sections so I could made a hatband.