There is something very iconic about this feather fancy for hats from the last decade of the Victorian Era. They are made up of a standing bundle of burnt peacock flue and a pompom of ostrich barbs. Peacock flue are the side barbs that are on the edges of a peacock tail feather below the eye. And can get really long up to 18″ it is normally sold with the barbules in tack (un-burnt) either natural or bleached white (cream). It is usually some by the inch of barbs sewn together.
Here is an example from the MET of a similar fancy on an 1895 straw hat. It has a standing bundle of black feathers that are perhaps burnt hurl or something more exotic and a base pompom of brown ostrich
Burning your peacock hurl
In order to create to this type of feather fancy you will need to burn the barbules off your hurl. I have several articles on how to burn feathers using household bleach, here is the article. But keep your hurl sewn together as it comes from the feather seller if you can.
click here and come back after you have read it and burnt your hurl.
Bundling your peacock hurl
I’m showing how to make a bundle of unburnt peacock hurl in this series of photos but the same goes for burnt hurl. If you still have the sewing from the feather store in place lay out the inch or so you will need for your bundle.
Lay some paper backed 1/4″ tape across the feathers at the length you want. Wrap the tape around to the other side. Now there is tape on both sides. The length below will be cut away.
Prepare a stiff wire core for the bundle. Near the middle of a ~10″ piece of wire make a small loop, use the other half to make another loop opposite it. These two small loops will keep the bundle from coming off the wire.
The remains of the wire should be twisted together.
Use a rotary cutter to trim the extra length away.
If you are doing a burnt hurl bundle you will have much fewer stems in your bundle.
With the double looped end of the wire below the tape start wrapping the tape around the wire as tightly as possible.
Continue until the end.
Over the tape wrap the bundle with strong thread several times. Pull it as tight as you can knot off with a surgeons knot.
Wrap it again just above the tape.
Trim any stems that are uneven below the bundle and trim the ones around the outside to create a half round.
Add glue over the stems and let it sink in as much as possible. Let it dry.
If you are going to add it to other plumes cover the tape and thread with florist tape or ribbon.
If you are going to add it to a hat as is then you will want to bend the twisted wire into a figure 8.
This will give you something to sew to the hat and also because the wire goes up into the bundle you have the ability to angle the bundle once it’s sewn on.
If you are wanting to make an ostrich pompom at the base of your peacock hurl bundle. Then follow the instructions in this article for how to make ostrich barbs on tape. This tape can be taped over the peacock around the base until you have the size you want. Then you can add more thread and tape as you did with the peacock bundle above.
This is what it will look like from above.
Other historical examples
1892 MET shows a burnt hurl coming out of a base puff of velvet fabric.
From the back this 1888 bonnet from the MET shows burnt ostrich drabs (small body feathers) coming out of the centers of both a black and a white ostrich pompom.