American Mcgee's Mad Hatter

[sesl]

So I recently started putting together a Mad Hatter costume pretty much identical to the one from American Mcgee's Alice game. I was originally going to do the 50s Disney version but my girlfriend has the original Alice game for PC and immediately fell in love with their version of the Mad Hatter (along with every other character). I'm starting with the hat and hoping to have the entire thing done by Comic Con in July. This is what I'm going for..

I had no luck finding the "right" fabric at the local JoAnns or Beverlys so I made a trip down to our fashion district here in LA... specifically 9th and Maple where there is nothing but FABRIC as far as the eye can see(don't believe me check out google maps :lol) Took me longer to find parking then to find this lovely gem

Picked up a 4 brass rings(12",9",& two 8") from the craft store to make my frame. Since zinc+copper=brass I sanded off the brass layer and voila copper! I ended up using soild core 14 gauge wire to connect the top and bottom 8in rings(not the stem wire you may see in the pictures). I gave the frame itself the slight curve and angled the top ring to exaggerate the curve. I kinda just eye balled it but at it's highest it's about 26in.

I made a pattern according to the ring sizes but left it at the costume shop. I'll take pictures tomorrow when I go.

 

[Wes R]

Looks good so far. I never played the game but I like the designs. Tim Burton should have used this version instead of what he did.

 

[MrFoxxZero]

Looks good so far. I never played the game but I like the designs. Tim Burton should have used this version instead of what he did.

I second that motion he should've gone more of the Beetlejuice route with the characters and designs, I think he "played it safe", Sweeney Todd was cool though, I think I might try my hand at doing Mr. Todd somewhere down the line

 

[sesl]

Looks good so far. I never played the game but I like the designs. Tim Burton should have used this version instead of what he did.

Thank you and yeah I love their designs too. Not much a fan of Burton but he went with similar style as in this movie

So I've been a little too busy to post up lately but here's the basic pattern I made

I measured the circumference around the rings I used for the cylindrical part of the hat and the height of the frame I made (can remember the measurements) and voila!
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...575264250317_540370316_18329559_4149617_n.jpg
I took the piece of fabric to get it embroidered but at $20 bucks per symbol I figured I would get the red one done and use fabric paint for the rest. I found a font with the symbols on it put them up on Illustrator, printed them out and made stencils.

Tomorrow I'll be sewing the pieces together. I'm by far no milliner so it will be interesting how I decide piece this thing together.

 

[AdamNightmare]

This is really cool. Good luck, will be watching!

 

[Maelina]

Loved this game! such a great character! keep the good work it will look fantastic!

 

[thevictim]

I loved that game. I was hoping the tim burton movie would have been darker.

 

[sesl]

So I've made little progress on the hat. I sewed the column piece together and I attached the top piece to the column piece which had to be hand sewn since the top piece is a bigger circumference then the column but forgot to take a picture of that. :wacko

Here's the support for the top piece...

Also had inbetween time where I wasn't doing too much so I decided to make the gear that will be sticking out of my back. From Vector Art to Cardboard and foam board to thicken it up.

Will be making a mold and casting it in resin

Edit: Thanks for the comments

 

[elvenisman2]

First time seeing this version of the hatter, deffinatly love it though ! its got that eerie, dark feel too it that you just love

 

[burningman]

Love this game and wil be following this closely. Great work so far!

 

[sesl]

So I keep forgetting to post up pics of my completed hat since its been done for almost 2weeks now. It's my first attempt at millinery work and just kinda winged it. It's not as "perfect" as I would've liked but it's the best I could do.

Here's my lovely supportive lady posing in the hat w/ scarf.

It shows up in a couple pictures here at the Munsonberry Socal Party

 

[VilleLeskinen]

Looks great! I'll be looking at the thread with great interest as my girfriend wants me to make her an Alice costume, based on the upcoming game! I might end up doing the mad hatter myself then

 

[sesl]

Looks great! I'll be looking at the thread with great interest as my girfriend wants me to make her an Alice costume, based on the upcoming game! I might end up doing the mad hatter myself then

Yes, My girlfriend too wanted me to make her Alice costume based off the game but NOW she wants to be "Blondie" from the movie Sucker Punch.

 

[sesl]

Haven't updated the thread in awhile but here's my mostly completed American Mcgee's Mad Hatter. I found the canvas shirt at Goodwill but it was an XL so needless to say major alterations were in order. I inverted the sleeves so the buttons wouldn't show, took them in so they're very form fitting and hand sewed them back on the outside of the shirt. Made these very heavy duty looking seams going all along the side of the shirt and down the sleeves to add to the restrained effect. Also folded over the button hole side of the shirt, again so the buttons wouldn't be visible. The collar was folded in and flipped up.
Broke 4 needles trying to get through all the layers of canvas so I jumped on the lovely industrial machines at school and breezed through it with such ease:lol

I still would like to make a full face prosthetic. But I'll save that for another time.