Of all things to trigger a design process, it was an Instagram story that I made recently that did the trick. The story, captioned “Happy Place,” was a snapshot of a theatre stage which I took before watching a show. When I saw this year’s theme, this instantly came to mind.

The theatre has always been my “Happy Place” and whether I am watching a performance, working behind the scenes, or performing on the stage myself, the theatre has a magical effect on me. This might even be one reason why I decided to go into a costume career, which in turn has led to my love of millinery and hat making. Having been involved in many areas of the theatre, I wanted to capture as many parts of a show as possible on the canvas of one hat. The hat therefore includes costumed performers on a stage, against a hand-painted scenic backdrop, and at the rear of the hat, a messy “backstage” area, which includes a quick-change costume rail, scene lists, props and programmes strewn about, and a poster advertising the show.

As a lover of all things tiny, I loved hand-stitching tiny costumes onto the figures, which represent Alice and the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. This classic story is not only one of the most recognisable and loved plays of all time, but it seemed fairly fitting with the way that I view the theatre almost like my own version of Wonderland.

My experience with millinery thus far has taught me that millinery is a wasteful craft, and therefore I was keen to be as sustainable as possible, using trimmings and scraps of fabric that were left over from past projects, as well as random bits and bobs such as lolly sticks and misshapen paperclips.

Note: Entries have been not been edited or proofread to protect the integrity of the maker's original meaning.