Now your buckram is dry, I hope. Your block should look something like this:

You may discover that the buckram isn't entirely smooth in some of the place where you would like it to be smooth. Use a steam iron with plenty of steam to smooth out any rough areas. Let that dry. It'll only take a couple of minutes. Untie the string and gently pull the buckram loose until you can get the block out. It will look like this:

Trim away the bits you don't need and you'll get this:

Uh, oops. I can sew that together and no one will see the mistake!

I forgot to shoot the next step. I took a piece of floral wire and cut it to just a little longer than the diameter of the circle and then sewed it to the edge.

Next, cut a length of double-fold bias tape to longer than the diameter of the circle and swirl it with a steam iron:

This gets very hot. Watch your fingers! You can get some of those "as seen on TV" oven gloves (you can find them at craft stores for people who work with hot glass and ceramics) and they will do a good job of protecting your fingers. Ask me how I learned this. ;-)

Next, fit the tape to the edge of your base, trim it, and secure it with a running stitch. You'll have something like this:

In part 3 I'll show how to cover the fascinator and trim it.

On to Part 3!