Wild Thing Headpiece

For Halloween in 2007, my kids were characters from the book "Where the Wild Things Are."

The headpiece for the Wild Thing provided some interesting challenges. I wanted it to be at least recognizable as the character in the book, and be light enough for my four-year-old to wear comfortably. It turned out fairly well, and was very popular around the neighborhood.

We all love the book. I hope this inspires a few people to make their own Wild Things costumes!

Step 1: Create a base to work from

I started by cutting out a round piece of single-ply cardboard about 15 inches in diameter. I measured my son's head from front to back, and drew an inner circle slightly bigger in diameter than my boy's head.

Comments

[Philcar]

I just don't see how you glued that nose unto that face and got it to look so smooth. I am getting burnt fingers and glue all over the face!!!!!!!!! Can you help????

[seamster]

I don't know if I can help you!

Just keep at it. If something doesn't work the way you would like, try another method. That's my approach to this kind of stuff. Good luck!

[Philcar]

I took that glued mess off and started over. This time I sewed that nose onto the face and stuffed it as I sewed it on. And I like it. Thanks for keeping me going!!!

[Philcar]

And the sides that are curved up, end up being the front and the back of the headpiece? You said that curve defined the upper lip of the base. Thanks, You are being sosososos helpful.

[seamster]

Ah, yes, I think we're on the same page now. If you look straight on at the front of the brim, where the face will be, it should be smiling at you.

[Philcar]

It appears in your picture that in this step the back of the cardboard has been shaped or cut a little more flat than and circle. Could you please explain what you mean by "I curved the whole piece to the desired shape." Thank you.

[seamster]

The cardboard piece was perfectly round.

I curved the left and right sides upward, which made it into a cowboy hat-shape. I'm not sure how to explain that. The photo might be a little deceiving because of lack of shadows or something, but the left and right sides of the cardboard "brim" are up about 3 inches off of the table.

[valalltogether]

this is coming very late..but thanks for your instructions!! between my mom an dmyself i was able to make a wild things head piece too! it turned out great and i had a blast on halloween!

[seamster]

Never too late! The costumes look great.

Thanks for the photo!

[J-Five]

Rest in Peace
Maurice Sendak

[J-Five]

That's what my kids look like, even though they're not in a costumes.

[cwiley4]

Thanks for the instruction!
I modified your instructions and blogged it here(in case you want to check out the other photos):
http://cassihousecat.blogspot.com/2011/11/great-halloween-debacle.html
WARNING: the post is heinously long.

I credited your Instructable and linked back here.

Peace!

[erinogrady]

This year was amazing, thanks to your fantastic directions! We all thank you so much! <3.

[seamster]

Wow, those turned out great! Have you considered posting an instructable to share some of the details on how you made all of these? There are a lot of people that would appreciate seeing the details on how you made these costumes.

Thanks a bunch for the photos! Totally made my day.

[erinogrady]

I SHOULD!! I spend like 2 months & lots of trips to this page figuring out how to make them work. I am really happy w/ the outcome! Thanks so much for the kind words! *You* just made *my* day!! I make lots of little crafts and really do need to take the time to put them up here. <3

[seamster]

Yes indeed. Just be careful, it can become addicting!

[maker.mama10]

I wouldn't have known where to start without your Instructable! Thanks so much!

[seamster]

Looks very nice! One of my favorites so far. Well done!

[maker.mama10]

Aww, thanks! I blogged a little about some of the alterations + made a materials/price list if anyone is interested. Thanks again!

http://nightgardendesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/pinterest-challenge.html

[allyallybobally]

I finally finished it! Thank you for the great instructions!!! :)

[seamster]

Looks great! I just got back from a night out begging for candy with my kids... and now that they're all in bed, I get to steal some of their candy!

One of the perks of being dad, I guess. Thanks for the photos!

[Andib]

Hi! I just wanted to say thanks for your instructable. I finally have posted one of my own, because of yours. And here is the photo of what I created from it. Thanks for such great info.

[seamster]

Looks very nice! With a full-body costume to boot. Well done!

[kogrady]

Thank you so much for your detailed instruction. I went off road because of the time but all went well tonight. Thank you again.

p.s. I sacrificed my broad rimmed gardening hat (with chin string) affixing rounded cardboard on either side of the brim for support and built off that. Yes, I began this project at 11 p.m. last night and that is all I could come up with.

[seamster]

Looks great!

[allyallybobally]

I found this while making my son's max costume and decided I had to make this too... but I'm stuck on the hair in the back. I know you made this a long time ago but I just need to know if you attached the hanging hair to the lower jaw or just let it hang.

[seamster]

Yes, the hanging hair flaps that are showing on either side of the upper jaw area were glued down to the lower jaw piece (the piece I describe making in step 7). This left about 6 inches or so in the middle of the lower jaw/chin piece where I needed to piece in a section of fake fur to finish it off. I hope that helps!

[speltbaker]

I made this costume for my kid when you first put it on Instructables.

Somehow, we have found a way to bring it of storage with the least provocation! People ask to wear it. SOooo many people have worn this just to try it on. Everyone loves it. The costume designer at our school just stared at it in awe! This is one of my all time favorite Instructables. Thank you so much...

[seamster]

Well, thank you! This was a fun project. I'm glad you liked it and were able to make your own. (No photo? I love seeing other people's photos. You ought to post one, just to humor me.)

[seamster]

Oh wait, you already did! I should've checked first...

[snowdrps]

I wanted to say thank you I was able to create the three monsters for our dance groupes production. Thank you.

[seamster]

Awesome! Glad I could help out a little. Thank you for the photos!

[J-Five]

it looks like my uncle

[angelabchua]

So as promised, I wore your costume project to our Instructables Show and Tell event and everyone LOVED it and immediately recognized your i'ble.

It made the front rotators on our new "Letters from the Editor" and i've attached a pic below. Thanks again for creating an awesome costume and sharing!

[queenofruitloops]

I used your tutorial to create the headpiece my boyfriend wore for a 'after halloween' costume party! It turned out so great! We tweaked it a little bit and hot glued everything instead of sewed, but it was a lot more convenient for me. Thanks for the tutorial! :-D

[seamster]

Once again, hot glue to the rescue!

Thank you for sharing your photo. The costumes look great!

[sharona789]

This was awesome. It was so easy to follow your directions. The Max costume I had made last year, so Carol was an obvious choice for a partner this year. We won a costume contest among over 1,000 people and had gotten so many positive comments throughout the night. Thanks!

[seamster]

Congrats on the win! That's just awesome!

..And thank you for taking the time to post the photo and let me know how it went!

[Kaylin_is_Awesome]

I was having trouble deciding what I wanted to be this year but I saw this and KNEW me and my boyfriend were totally gonna be max and carol/moishe. If it werent for you we would have been stuck in a lurch. You TOTALLY werent lying when you said the head shape was the hardest part. I wanted to die! You are the best of the BEST!

[seamster]

Thank you! Those look like they turned out great. Thanks for posting the photo!