Costume Wonderland

And now, my dear, something seems to be troubling you. Uh, won’t you tell us all about it?
Well, it all started while I was sitting on the riverbank with Dinah.
….

Clean cup! Clean cup! Move down, move down, move down!
But I still haven’t used….
Move down, move down, move down, move down… And now my dear, as you were saying?
Oh, yes. I was sitting on the riverbank with uh… with you know who…
I do?!!
I mean my C – A – T…
Tea?
A nice cup of tea, indeed! Well, I’m sorry, but I just haven’t the time!
The time, the time! Who’s got the time?
No, no, no, no! No time, no time, no time! Hello, goodbye! I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!

The story of my life.
But thankfully this year I’m not late with the costumes and the kids have worn them two times already!
As most of you guessed from the mystery costume fabrics, yes!….Lucy and Owen are Alice and the Mad Hatter! (though Dorothy and the Scarecrow or Tiana and Naveen were clever cute ideas. Maybe next year….)
For months Lucy’s been dressing up as a make-shift Alice in Wonderland, with her Cinderella dress doubling for an Alice dress and her play kitchen apron going over the top. It’s worked but it was time for an upgrade. So when she said she wanted to be Alice in Wonderland for Halloween, I got excited. It wouldn’t be hard to create a simple blue dress and white apron. Of course sewing with slippery satin never makes a project very easy. And with each fraying seam, it was harder and harder to resist the Alice-to-go costume on the Disney Store rack. But I plowed through and really love how it turned out.

The dress was made very similar to the yellow Put Me In The Zoo dress, using a circle skirt concept to make it drape and flow beautifully. It’s such a sweet girly dress with a zipper down the back and elastic casings in the sleeves. I should make more of these for her.
The apron is white muslin with a gathered front and velcro to fasten it around her neck.
Of course, Alice would not be Alice without the classic black ribbon bow. Thankfully I bought this stretchy one at H&M a few years ago. It was the perfect touch.
Add white tights and black shoes and one Alice costume is ready to go!
The only item I meant to sew (but didn’t) was a poofy petticoat to go under the dress. It would have finished off the look just right. But eh, after making Owen’s hat, I was too tired.
Now we did have a melt-down in the car last week when Lucy said to me,
“But mom, I need long hair to be Alice. And my long hair is all gone!
I ensured her that she’d make a really cute short-haired Alice and that it would look just as good! But she bawled and bawled.
Thankfully later that day she snapped out of it and exclaimed, “Mom, I know what we can do! I can just pretend my hair is long!”
Perfect.
And thus the tea party moved along…
The Mad Hatter costume was more involved than Alice. But I actually had fun figuring out each piece. And the plaid pants are what Lucy got annoyed about (Purist). The Disney Mad Hatter wears green pants to match his hat. But that felt boring.
And I figured that he might actually wear the plaid pants again. So that’s what we went with.
My two favorite parts of the ensemble are the jacket (with a non-lined collar), made out of fleece:
and the Hatter’s hat.
If you’re curious what the 10/6 means, it stands for 10 shillings and sixpence, the price of the hat. Hatters made and sold hats and were a walking advertisement, selling hats right off their head.
This is the revised and improved hat.
But here’s how it looked at our church’s Trunk or Treat last Saturday. The brim is super bunchy, and squished together (though I love this picture):
And yep, there you can see, it has all sorts of problems in the back:
So I took it home, re-measured, and re-cut the fabric pieces and foam:
I sewed the donut together and stuffed the foam inside:

(much better)

I stuck the hat inside the donut brim, hand-sewed the two parts together with embroidery thread:
And glued the flaps back for a more polished look.
Still not perfect but much, much better.
Even Alice approved.
Cheers!
Happy Halloween!
You can see our past Halloween ensembles HERE, HERE and HERE.

  1. 1) Tara

    Do you have a pattern you can share to make the jacket for Mad Hatter? I’m looking for something quick and easy and yours is perfect!

  2. 2) Catherine

    Any chance the bodice for the dress is based on a pattern? What about the apron? My daughter wants an Alice costume and this is totally perfect. I especially love how the apron is removable and the dress is lovely on its own.

  3. 3) Kim

    Ay chance you have a pattern or know where you got the instuctions for the mad hatter jacket?

  4. 4) J's Mom

    I am just so happy I stumbled upon this while searching google and couldn’t leave without saying thank you! My daughter is 5 and just got her hair cut the same length as your little girl and she too is worried that she can’t be a good Alice without her long hair! Fantastic job on the costumes and photography 🙂

  5. 5) Brittany Olivas

    Hey I was curious if you would sell this mad hatter costume? My son is obsessed and I am not too crafty! Thanks! chargerwest@yahoo.com

    • 6) Dana

      Sorry I don’t sell actual items, I just share ideas.
      I would try etsy.com or do a google search. Maybe there’s something out there!
      – Dana

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