A Brand New Hat

At PlayMakers, we are well into production on our first mainstage show of the season, Shakespeare's As You Like It. Our costume designer, Anne Kennedy, found a hat that she loved for the character of Rosalind, but it was a completely unacceptable color. It fell to me to make a reproduction.

Here's how i did it!





This is the original period hat that Anne loved.
Too bad it's dusty pink; the costume is periwinkle blue.


This original is a blocked buckram form covered in sculpted felt foliage. We also wanted something softer and fresher.


I found these silk flowers in our flower stock,
which perfectly matched the Rosalind dress fabric!
Here they're pinned on the original hat for a visual,
to see if Anne liked them.


I didn't have a block of the correct shape to block the base, so i flat-patterned it with darts and a seam, and steamed it into the appropriate curvature.


My crafts assistant, undergraduate costume assistant Caroline Long, disassembled the pile of flowers into their constituent parts for application to the buckram foundation.


Here is the hat after it has been wired, mulled with icewool, covered with silk crepe de chine. I am arranging some blue lily petals across the back, tiled like the leaves on the original.


Here's the finished hat!


Pretty cute!   Post by Rachel Pollock