At Portal Restaurant and Bar, nestled in London's East End, one of milliner Katherine Elizabeth's Mad Hatter Couture Parties reaches fever pitch.

“Where’s my needle?!” I squeak, scouring the table in front of me as I hold a fascinator in one hand and a large orange feather in the other. Tables are awash with buttons, shiny crystals and flowers in every colour, while flamboyant feathers are scattered across the room.

Laughter erupts as I realise my needle is still embedded into the fascinator itself.

Katherine Elizabeth’s Mad Hatter Couture party is a hot new idea for hen parties and a fun and, dare I say it, creative evening where brides and hens alike can make their own wedding-day hats.

As I chat with Katherine about her award-winning hat creations (and Princess Beatrice’s interesting royal wedding creation), she tells me: “The art of making is back! Everybody is into handicraft – brides want everything to be handmade. They want to see that it’s done properly and some even want to make things themselves.”

So if DIY weddings and crafty ceremonies are all the rage, then creative hen parties are sure to be the next big thing, right?

As I ambitiously stab a piece of thread through the eye of a needle (and miss), I wonder what kind of hat my mum would like. “The mums are getting more and more adventurous,” Katherine reveals. “They’re [confident] wearing big fascinators with lots of colour fixed to one side of their head.”

Katherine leads the class, which includes a room of 20 or so women, in the art of how to score a goose feather to create a vintage look, before moving onto instructions on how to sew-on crystals – with a less-is-more warning.

With my feathers scored and needle threaded (finally), I’m feeling confident that my creation will be a success, and what’s more, I’m having so much fun!

And the party doesn’t have to be all about hat-making. For a real Alice in Wonderland feel, you can incorporate a vintage tea-party, with sandwiches and cupcakes served on antique-rose china teacups and saucers. Not to mention sparkling wine all round!

If a tea-party isn’t your thing, there is also the option to glam it up with a Benefit makeover too. Katherine has recently joined forces with the Benefit beauty masters so that once you've created your hat, you can complete your look with a little blush and a bit of lippy!

Want to plan a creative Mad Hatter hen party? Visit katherineelizabethhats.com or check out our website for more hat styles and inspiration