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The Play's The Thing

This year my baby sister decided to join a local children's charity theater production of Beauty and the Beast. I was thrilled because, 1) I love musical theater, 2) I love Beauty and the Beast, and 3) another excuse for costuming. :)

My darling sister was cast as a villager, specifically, Lady with Cane. Yeah, she's the one who needs six eggs. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I already had an 18th century gown that I made a few years ago. I wore it as Marie Antoinette for Halloween, and have worn it to FanX as Reinette Poisson. (Though really, I made it in anticipation of the day I get to be in a production of the Scarlet Pimpernel. But it's, surprisingly, hard enough to explain to people who Marie Antoinette was, so I usually just stick with that story.) The point is, we didn't have to make a new costume, we just tightened the laces and re-hemmed the skirts. :(

But, this ensemble was missing something important, a good hat! :)

(I originally wore it with a large pile of hair and feathers.)

Unfortunately, ebay failed me here. I could not find a single bergère within our price range. But, while scouring the interwebs, I came across this post and this one, about how to make a period hat out of a placemat. Our finished product most closely resembles the first one.

We found some round placemats at Wal-Mart, and collected a few spools of ivory ribbon and an assortment of feathers.

We box pleated the thinner ribbon around the edges of the placemat, and covered the not perfectly even ends with a big bow. Next we determined where the back of the crown would rest and hot glued on the feathers.

Some of the feathers were spray painted gold, to coordinate with the dress. The glued feathers were then tacked down, and the glue-y ends covered inside a puff of wide ribbon that was sewed on to imitate the crown of a hat. And voilà.

We attached the hat with hat pins (because ebay), and somehow ended up with a slightly different shape each time it was worn.

Doesn't she look fabulous? And the play was so much fun. :)

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