wonderland, part 7 ( summer 2010 )

A little more from last summer's production of Alice in Wonderland. These terrible photographs show a little of the process and materials I used to make the rose bush costumes, from the scene in which the Queen's cards are painting the roses red.




These are inspired by these dandelion hats from Pushing Daisies.




I sewed the base hat from the same vintage pattern used to make the hats for the Children of Hearts, but with the crowns extended to be over a foot tall.




This is so that the hat could conceal a half of an eight-inch foam ball. The ball was held in place with a little hot glue. Later, a circle of green felt was stitched over the exposed styrofoam inside the hat to keep foam bits out of the kids' hair.




The hat base. The chin strap secures in place with velcro, necessary because of the height of the hat.




Cut individual flowers on stems off of a few fake rose bunches. (If I hadn't been on such a tight budget, I would have more than doubled the number of roses per hat. As it was, between the three hats, I used a total of five dollar-store bunches of each color) The pin was used to poke pilot holes through the felt and into the styrofoam, so that the stems of the roses would go in more easily. Poke a hole, place a rose, repeat over entire hat.




The leaf mitts are the easiest part of the costume: trace around the hand in the shape of a leaf, making sure to make it extra-large and including some seam allowance. Cut 4, two for each mitt. Make a simple cuff with a doubled-over rectangle of felt that, with seam allowance, fits fairly snuggly around the wrist.




This would be a fun project to try with other kinds of flowers as well, or with feathers for a strange bird hat, or maybe mini feather-dusters for the dandelion look in the inspiration photo.