Mad Hats

I love hats. One benefit of working as a costumer is that I get many opportunities to exercise my inner mad hatter. The hats for Seussical, my current show, are an eclectic bunch. The hat for the Mayor of Whoville needed to make a bold statement, and contain all the colors of Whoville. This gave me an opportunity to play with structure and design. I started with a standard top hat pattern, which I redrafted and tweaked into a top heavy oval with crown and brim pointing in opposite directions. 

The Cat in the Hat wears the traditional red and white stovepipe, while Horton's cap sports oversized ears made of Pellon Peltex and felt. The Sour Kangaroo doesn't really wear a hat- just curlers.  Don't her ears look like weapons aimed at Horton? 

Mayzie wears a Steampunk Fascinator. 

Since the Musical Director will be working in costume, she needs a hat, too. She often wears a beret, so I chose a similar style. I got this nifty vintage hat pattern from Etsy seller kalliedesigns a while back. It is easy to make out of ordinary felt and interfacing. I Seussed it up with checkered piping and multi colored musical embroidery from annthegran.com. 

We also have wigs and do rags and ears and antlers and antennae, far too many for this blog post. And last but not least, we have Costume 1 and Costume 2- because we need to have a little fun, too.  :)