mad as a hatter? all the best people are!

Here are Oliver’s Mad Hatter accessories. So, have I gone completely mad? bonkers? off my head? Probably, but I’ll let you into a secret – all the best people are! Well – we are going to a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, at Anthony House, the location where Tim Burton’s new Alice in Wonderland movie was filmed!

1. the hat
I managed to get hold of the official Disney hat (not available in UK but I got it off ebay). It is adult size – massive on Oli but if you look at the original Tenniel illustrations his Hatter has a massive hat – so I don’t mind, and Oli finds the size amusing! It had a strange printed vinyl price tag and feather though so they had to go – replaced with a real peacock feather and a ‘proper’ hand-written (by me) price tag with the ‘proper’ legend: In this style 10/6 (Johnny Depp just has 10/6 in the film).



2. the cotton reel ammo belt and other trimmings
When we saw the new Alice in Wonderland movie I could not get over Johnny Depp’s Mad attire! Especially the ‘ammo belt’ made from cotton reels! When we decided Oli was going to be the Hatter I knew I'd have to replicate this. I bought some vintage wooden cotton reels off ebay, and strung them together with some black & white waxed cotton cord to make the ammo belt, I think it looks awesome! Johnny Depp also has this cascade of ribbons and trims in his jacket pocket, so I made one with a choice selection of ribbons and trims knotted on a nappy pin. A spotty silk scarf bow-tie completes Oli’s Mad Hatter accessories.






Notice Oli’s dalek badges which I bought from DAMEcreations on Etsy, they reference an episode in the new series of Doctor Who when a dalek actually says “Would you care for some tea?”! Oliver is obsessed with Doctor Who and daleks so I thought it would be cool to add his badges here which go nicely with the whole Mad Tea Party thing!

Just look at all these lovely ribbons and trims!



I will post photos of Cyan in her Alice dress and pinny and Oli as the Mad Hatter tomorrow – the kids will be getting dressed up for a friend’s Alice themed birthday party tomorrow. We will probably go to the Tea Party at Anthony House in a couple of weekend’s time.

Edit: see the photos here ..

My creative high continues ..

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