How to Make a Gertrude McFuzz Costume

How to Make a Gertrude McFuzz Costume

I’m almost at the end of my production of Seussical so I’m sharing how to make an easy Gertrude McFuzz costume complete with an on-stage growing tail. It’s probably easier for me to talk you through it so I’ve posted a video below as well as links to everything I used on Amazon. Enjoy!

 

I used an Alice in Wonderland dress without the apron as the base. The link for the exact dress is listed but there are tons of alternatives. Just make sure the apron is a completely separate piece from the dress. Some of the dresses I’ve seen out there have the apron attached in ways that aren’t fixable.

The cheapest boas I could find on short notice were from Amazon. I used these WGI boas in Light Blue. The dark color boas I ordered to test got color ALL OVER my skin. So they were returned. You’ll see some reviewers complain that their boas shed feathers like crazy. In my experience this show, the boas did shed feathers right when I took them out of the bags and a little more during dress rehearsals but nothing disastrous. We’re at the end of the run and they still look great after all of the pulling, stuffing, and dragging that’s been done to them.

I ordered this super cute wide elastic belt and bow in white which helped to cinch in the waist where the dress hung a little big. I had her wear it with the bow in the back just over her little tail.

I used a pre-made marabou feather  trim for under the peter pan collar of the dress to make her look more like a bird (and less like Alice). I was going back and forth on adding a second layer but ran out of time.

These blue and white striped socks were the best costume add. They really brought the look together and took her from sweet Alice bird to quirky Gertrude McFuzz.

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