Unscripted

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!

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

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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Here’s the finished hat!

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Pretty cute!

 
Post by Rachel Pollock