Homemade Cat In The Hat Costume

The Cat in the Hat is a classic character of children's literature. Debuting in Dr. Seuss's book "The Cat in the Hat," the Cat still is going strong, even spawning a TV special and a full-length movie in 2003. The Cat in the Hat is a relatively easy costume to make at home, requiring few materials and little labor.

The trademark hat of the Cat in the Hat is quite easy to make. Measure the circumference of your head. Draw a circle on a piece of white paper that size and draw a circle about 3 inches wider around it. Around the inside edge, draw four evenly spaced, rectangular tabs facing the center. Cut out this circle-with-tabs shape; it will be the brim. Draw a circle the same size as your head's circumference on red paper, but this time draw the four tabs facing outwards. Cut this out; it will be the top of the hat.

Glue a sheet of white paper to form a tube. The circumference should be the size of your head. Depending on your size, it should be somewhere between 7 to 14 inches long. Cut out four red strips about a seventh the length of the tube and long enough to go around the tube completely. Glue these evenly throughout the tube's length to create equally sized red and white stripes. Glue the tabs of the top part of the hat and bottom of the hat inside the tube. It doesn't matter which side of the tube each goes on.

The rest of the costume requires wearing solid black pants, a long-sleeve shirt and shoes. The only modification needed is the white chest. Take a piece of white fabric and cut an oval to fit over the shirt from the neck line to about the navel. Sew it in place over the front of the shirt. White gloves should be worn with the edges of the gloves under the sleeve. The bow tie is just a red piece of fabric about 3 inches wide, tied in a bow. Start with a ribbon about 3 feet long. Tie it in place and cut the trailing edges so they stop around the bottom of the breastbone to get the proper length.

The makeup for the costume is fairly simple. Simply color the entire face white to start. After that, place a tiny spot of black on the tip of the nose. Two black lines on either cheek are sufficient to form the whiskers.