One of the few pieces of visual information that we get about Taako is that he definitely has a hat. Presumably, it's a witch/wizard hat, given his class: the pointy, wide-brimmed type. There are a million tutorials for sewing these kinds of hats, so I won't bore you with the details. I went with black felt fabric for a classic look.
I also went with a very wide brim, just because it was so dramatic that way. This caused a problem: the brim wasn't stiff enough to support its own weight! I went to the store for some very stiff interfacing, but there wasn't anything in stock that was quite stiff enough.
...Cardboard is stiff enough...
Remind me not to get this hat wet.
Anyway, I cut out a piece of cardboard in my brim pattern, trimmed just a bit off the edges, and sandwiched it between two felt brim pieces. Then I whipstitched everything together. The result was a passable witch/wizard hat!
Sorry in advance for the photo quality. It's hard to photograph something made entirely of black fabric!
After trying the hat on, I discovered that I had inadvertently made it a bit too big, even taking into account the fact that I'd have a wig on. I cut a few scrap strips of felt to pad the inside of the brim, which worked pretty well to shrink the inner circumference of the hat.
After the construction of the hat was more or less complete, it was time for the detail work. The first order of business was to deal with the scruffy stitched edges. My whipstitched brim left the raw edges of the felt showing, and while raw edges don't fray on felt, they're not the most attractive thing, either. Fortunately, there's an easy fix to unsightly hems and edges!
Yes, bias tape! You can buy this in a pack like I did, or make your own if you have woven fabric that you'd like to use. The "bias" part of bias tape is very important, because fabric cut on the bias has much more stretch to it than fabric cut on the straight grain. That means that it can stretch around curves without puckering. Perfect for a circular hat brim!
As you can see, the process of adding a bias tape edging is simple. Place, pin, and stitch with your hem stitch of choice. I used the blind hem stitch because I wanted the finish to be as clean as possible. Hand stitching may take longer than machine stitching, but the result is so nice and clean when done well!
And here's the finished hat! It's really big in person, both in height and breadth. Perfect for an elven wizard who wants to be the center of attention!
Or, well, not quite perfect. Black felt might be classic, but it is a little boring, don't you think? Taako certainly isn't boring, so we're going to have to fix that. Maybe some lace design around the inside of the brim would be nice (and it would give me a chance to break out the ol' tatting shuttles). And some beaded fringe? A nice bright hat band? The possibilities are endless, and who says we have to pick just one? It'll take a little time to make all that lace, though, so this is it for now. Stay tuned if you want to see this hat properly spiced up. Until then, though, stay crafty!
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