Maddie Hatter Cosplay Tutorial: The Skirts

Hiya, SpaceKitty here!!! 

I thought I would continue writing the tutorials on how I made my Maddie cosplay!!! Sorry, it is taking me a while to post these. (I had to repost this post, so please let me know if anything doesn't make sense)

I decided to break the costume process into four sections; the wig, the skirts, the bodice, and the accessories. 

Please note, I am not a professional seamstress or cosplayer, and this tutorial is far from perfect. 

This cosplay should be somewhat easy if you have a basic understanding of sewing.  

Basic supplies needed:

• Sewing machine or a sewing needle  
• Sewing chalk 
• Scissors  
• Sewing pins  
• Zipper foot (if you are using a sewing machine)  
• Measuring tape  
• Pencil
• Paper
• Calculator (for circle skirt math)  
• A ruler or yardstick  

 

Supplies needed for the tulle petticoat:

• Glitter black Tulle 
• Plain black tulle 
• Black fabric 
• Black thread 
• Elastic 

The tulle petticoat that I made was an altered version of the petticoat made by WhereBlackSheepMeet on YouTube, link here. I am going to send you to the video to put the petticoat together. It is pretty straightforward, and there are just a few minor adjustments that need to be made.  

First adjustment: WhereBlackSheepMeet is making her petticoat to go under a garment, and thus most of her petticoat will not be seen. However, Maddie Hatter's petticoat will be seen, so you need to alter the 17in lining to be much shorter. Mine ended up being about 8in. So you will cut out the two 5 in strips and two 8in strips (instead of the 17in strips) out of the black fabric.

Second adjustment: Because the petticoat in the video is being made to go under a garment, it is on the shorter side. To fix this for the Maddie costume you need to do a little measuring and math. Measure how long you want the petticoat to fall on yourself. Mine was about 20in. Next, subtract 16 from your number, so 20-16= 4. Then, add the number you just got to the number of the original tulle lengths. So instead of  16,15, and 10in (the lengths of the video's tulle rectangles), it would change to 20, 19, and 14in (which will be the new lengths). 

Last adjustment: This one is optional. I did not use ribbon to hem the edges of the tulle, I just left them raw. Either way will look fine though. 

 

Supplies needed for the purple skirt: 

• Magenta thread  
• A magenta zipper (An invisible zipper would be best, but I just used a regular 7" one)  
• Magenta fabric (My local Walmart did not have a close enough color, so I purchased (yards) of 100% cotton from a fabric store) 
• Gold heat transfer vinyl (I used 2 rolls. I suggest the Siser brand but other brands might work) 
• Clear or gold thread 
• Exacto knife 
• Iron and ironing board 

To start off, make a basic circle skirt. To do this, measure your waist and the desired length of the skirt. My length was about 10 inches. Once you have those measurements, get ready to do some math. Our equation is as follows:  

The ‘C’ stands for circumference, and this is the measurement of your waist. First, take the measurement of your waist and divide it by (2×3.14) or 6.28. Don't forget to write the number you get down so you don't forget it. Next, take the number that you just calculated and then add your length measurement to it. Please Note: When in doubt, make your skirt longer. You can always short your skirt, but it is harder to lengthen it. Write that number down also. Once you have those numbers it's time to cut.  

Take your fabric and fold it in half, top to bottom. Then fold it left to right so that you have two sides with a folded edge.  

In the corner where the two folded edges meet place the end of a ruler. Without moving the end of the ruler from the corner, move the other end of the ruler and begin measuring out the waist calculations number. This will create a curved line. Then repeat with the skirt length measurement. It should look something like the picture below.  

Now cut along on the dotted lines drawn.  

Now if you have gotten this far and are completely confused, I apologize. However, don't despair just yet. There is a great circle skirt tutorial by MADE Everyday on youtube, and the first 7 minutes explain what I have shared here. The link is here. *PLEASE NOTE*: In the MADE Everyday video, she adds an extra inch or two to compensate for the fact that she is using an elastic waistband. Don't add the extra inches because you will be using a zipper. 

Once cut out, unfold your skirt once, so that it is folded in half. Cut along one folded side. Unfold the skirt to reveal a single cut line. Kinda like this.  

This is the final cut out 

Now it is time for the waistband. First, you need to decide how thick you want your waistband. Do keep in mind your waistband needs to be a little over an inch thick because you will be adding the buttons to it later. Mine ended up being about 1.5 when my skirt was finished because my button was an inch. Once you have decided how thick your waistband will be. Cut out a strip of fabric that is (the measurement of your waist + 3 inches) long and (the desired thickness of your waistband doubled and add an extra 1/2 inch for seam allowance) wide. You need to double the thickness of the waistband because it will be folded in half when attached. 

Now, I am going to be completely honest, I just folded the waistband in half and sewed it into the inner circle of the skirt. Once the waistband was installed, I folded the excess into the fabric tube so that the end of the waistband lined up with the cut in the skirt. But if you would like a more professional and nicer-looking waistband, here is a tutorial on how to do that. The link is here. *Note*: You will need interfacing for this tutorial. 

Zipper time! Now, I hate that I keep sending you to other tutorials, but I don't think I could explain zippers if I tried. This circle skirt tutorial starts explaining the zipper process at the 3:08 minute mark. The link is here. 

 

Now before you hem the skirt, you need to add the gold decorations. *Note*:this step took a few hours. I used gold heat transfer vinyl (htv) by Siser. I found a swirl design image that I liked on the internet and uploaded it to a word document program. I sized it up to the desired size (I did have to do a couple test prints). My design size was big enough to fit 4 of the design on my skirt. Once I found a size I liked I printed it out, place it over the htv, dull side up, and gently cut it with an Exacto knife (you can use a cricket machine for this step but I'm am not sure how to do that). Here is a short video on htv basics, link here. You will also need to cut the skirt trim out of htv.  

Once you have all of your htv pieces, iron them onto your skirt according to the instruction of your htv packaging. Once you have finished ironing on the htv, hem your skirt and you're done! 

 

Supplies needed for the blue and white skirt:   

• White and/or clear thread 
• A blue or white zipper (I just used a regular 7" one)  
• Blue and white fabric (I used a pre-cut piece of cotton fabric from Walmart)  

For the blue and white skirt, or as I like to call it the circus tent skirt :), You are going to cut two circle skirts with both colors the same way you did with the purple skirt above. Please keep in mind that this skirt will be longer than the purple skirt. Mine was about 14in long. 

Take your full circle, fold it in half, and cut along the fold, giving you two halves. Set one half aside. Take the half you kept and fold it in half. Cut along the fold. Continue folding in half and cutting on the fold until you have 16 panels. Repeat for the white. 

Take the panels you just cut out and being sewing them together, alternating between blue and white. I used a 1/8in seam, but my seams keep falling apart, so I would suggest a 1/4in seam. Stop before sewing on the last panel. Set the skirt on the floor and lay the final panel where it will be attached. Your skirt should have a large gap and should not make a completed circle. 

Use the final panel as a template to cut out more panels to fill in the gap. I only needed two more panels but you will probably need more because of the 1/4inseam. Do make sure that no two colors are touching. Even if you have to add more or fewer panels than the gap needs. I still had a small gap, but I left it because I didn't want two colors touching. 

After you have straight-stitched the panels together, zigzag stitch or serge all of the panel seams to keep them from fraying. 

Now sew in the waistband and zipper the same as the purple skirt. To hem the skirt, I used a clear thread so as to blend in with the two different colors. 

And you're done!!! Hopefully, this tutorial was helpful. If you have any questions or need some help, please comment and I will try my hardest to help!!!

Thank you so much for reading, and happy cosplaying!!!