Mad Hatter Halloween Costume

I decided to do the Mad Hatter for Halloween this year. And because I has to make my most of my costume to get the look I wanted, I figured I would do an instructable while I was at it. My documentation of it is not 100% perfect because I did some of these late at night and sometimes I would forget to take photos. However I will do my best to write out what I did and the materials I used while making everything.

When I was deciding to make the skirt, I started with a pleated skirt that I remade three times but still didn't like how it looked with the costume, so I remade it as a circle skirt. To make a circle skirt I measured around my waist to get the size I needed and did the math to get the needed diameter and draw the fourth of the circle on my folded fabric. Then I measured the circle for the length I wanted the skirt.

The hat was a challenge for me. Figuring out how I was going to form the shape I wanted for the hat took a few different tries before I ended up with this. I used a furnace filter to buill the body of the hat up from another smaller top hat I found. I used the furnace filter because it has a thin wire meshing similar to chicken wire that was almost perfect to make a sturdy, lasting body.

I started by dismantling the furnace filter to get the fabric and mesh part out of the cardboard frame. I then flattened it as best as I could, after I did this I folded it in half and started to accordion fold or pleat the filter to build the frame. I did a large amount minor adjustments to get my desired shape. I used hot glue to attatch it to the hat after I made a larger brim for my hat with a polyurethane foam sheet.

After I got it securely attached to the base hat, I continued to shape it to fit the larger piece of cardboard that is roughly the same size as the brim of the hat. I then cut the edge of the filter so that I could glue it to the cardboard top. I trimmed the ends so that it wouldn't be as bulky to try and glue down.

When I finished the gluing and trimming I decided it would look cleaner to put another piece of cardboard over the top of the hat, so I cut out another oval, glued it down securely, and cut it to fit correctly.

I covered the hat in brown silky quilt squares that I had lying around waiting to be used, and rather than sewing a bunch together I decided to make it a bit more messy to start with. To do that I just used loads of hot glue (because of how quick and simple it is to use) to attach the squares somewhat randomly as well as functionally to cover the entire hat.

I started with the top of the hat and covered it while figuring out how to simply go over the edges, I did this with some cutting and gluing as well as simply adding more fabric to cover the form all the way down to the brim and under the brim.

For the last few steps of the hat, I used a textured brown fabric to just wrap around the center of the hat to give it some more character. I also took a piece of metallic striped fabric to add the small rectangular patch to the top edge of the hat.

I made the hat pins out of pieces of scrap metal that I painted with a gold paint marker and glued some strange buttons to the tops of each one. I then attached them where I preferred, as well as using a piece of cardstock paper to write the 10/6 on and stick under the scarf.

I made the scarf out of a piece of cotton sheet I found from a previous project and dyed it to the color I desired and simply tied it around the hat.

I found an ostrich feather and a peacock feather that looked wonderful paired together, so I attached them to the appropriate side of the hat.

The bow tie I made out of black backgrounded floral fabric that I thought matched and gave the look well. I cut the bow portion twice as wide so that I could fold it to be more sturdy. I then cut two pieces for the lengths of the bottom ties and hand stitched them to the accordion folded piece of fabric that formed the bow. After I did this, Iusedd another strip of the fabric to wrap around the center of the bow to give it the shape, I stitched the edge of this to keep it all together. I used a stretchy piece of fabric through the center loop in the back so I could easily tie it sound my neck.

For the lace cuffs I used a bit of fabric cut into two equal rectangles that fit with room around my hand and to the length I needed them to be. I hemmed the rough edge with a piece of elastic string in the hem to hold onto my wrist, then I connected the rough edges.

The spool belt was probably hhe most tedious of all, but I loved how it turned out.

I started by acquiring some wooden spools I found in one of my local thrift shops. I then used the thread I had on other spools throughout my house and hand threaded twenty two spools, left one empty, and used seven spools that I had already had in the house.

To attatch thwe spools together, I used thick necklace thread and basically wove them onto it. I then determined the length I needed for it to fit correctly on my body. I found a piece of yellow silky ribbon and tied it to each end and it was done.

To create the style of vest I wanted, I used some old fabric I had that I think used to be a pillow case, and formed the shape I needed. Because no one was going to see the back of the vest because it would be under my jacket, I decided that what it looked like in the back did not matter greatly. I aligned the buttons and sewed them to the front, I then carefully used the seam ripper to cut straight holes for the buttons. I would've sewn the buttonholes correctly, but I still haven't learned how to do that on a sewing machine. I also hemmed as much of the outside as I could, using scrap fabric doesn't leave much room for error.

The reason I decided to use a shirt I already own for the underneath of my costume was for two reasons, I wanted it to fit properly, and I have not yet figured out how to make a shirt collar. I needed a decent shirt collar to hide both the tie of the bow, and the neck tie of the vest, this shirt just happened to be what I needed.

These were fun, a pain to attatch, but fun.

I started by using small peices of lace as a starter, then I used a four strand soft yarn I have and cut it into lengths I needed and separated the strands. Then I used hot glue for its quick set time, and glued strands of yarn onto the lace and combed them out periodically. I kept what I brushed out and reglued it on later to add more texture.

I used eyelash glue to attatch them to my eyebrows, I personally do not suggest this without using a glue stick to protect your eyebrows first, otherwise it takes patience to get the glue off later.

To create the jacket, I found a dress at Salvation Army and took it partially apart and cut and hemmed it to get it how I liked. I am sorry I don't have more details for it, it is pretty vague, but it did not take me much work.

And there you have it, my entire costume with the striped socks to finish it off. I wore leggings under it all to stay warm all night as well as my more comfortable shoes that don't completely destry the look.

For the makeup, I really wish I would've remembered to take photos as I was doing it, or better yet, taken a video, but I did not, thus I will explain it. I started by taking white face paint for the base and applying it everywhere but directly near my eyes, I used white eyelinge for that. I then set it with powder to keep the shine down. After I did that, I used some eyeshadows to create the correct red shade for I under my left eye, as well as using orange to accent the lower lash line a bit. Then I used bright blue eyeshadow on my upper left lid wish some purple in between the colors for blending. On my right eye, I used purple on my top lid and pink on my lower lid. For both eyes I used a tiny brush and white face paint to line my upper lash line in white and to draw on the white "eyelashes" to the bottom of my eyes. I also used a clean mascara brush and white face paint to color my top lashed white. For the contouring, I used a dark purplish color to to the nose and cheeks referring to a reference photo to attain the look I desired. I also colored and curled my hair. (that didn't turn out too well, but it was okay).

This is one of my trail runs. I like to do the whole face of makeup before the day I am going to do it so that I know what I need to do next time to improve it. This was about a month before when all I had finished was the coat. I was hoping this may give a better idea of the makeup, that is all. Thank You!