Cat in the Hat top hat

Dress-up party time!! (Brace yourself, there'll be MANY more posts starting with that line). Some part of my 6 year old self that loves costumes and dressing up never grew up, which means I always have something fun to wear for Halloween and birthdays. Last minute is my method of success for everything, and this was no different. This was for a Gamer's Society evening at uni that required minimal effort and maximum comfort and manoeuverability, so a simple stripy top hat and oversized bowtie were conjured up out of scraps and combined with a neat white shirt and suit pants (I would have added a black blazer if I had one). And voila, I'm a cat with a hat!

I used old canvas from a discarded oil painting attempt to line the hat and keep it rigid (unfortunately there was no time to go out and buy batting). It worked really well, and didn't buckle under the pressure! The brim I left floppy and canvas-less. The bowtie was just a knotted piece of satin stapled to an elastic hidden under my shirt collar (Staples, you ask? What about the sewing part of this sewing blog? Pfft, ain't nobody got time fo' dat!)

I later lined the hat more neatly, and three years later it's still my trusty back-up costume in case of emergencies! My only complaint would be the bobble-head feeling when wearing it - you're constantly trying to compensate for the feeling that you're wearing the leaning tower of Piza on your head every time you turn too suddenly.

#hat #cosplay #fancydress #DrSeuss