It's Raining Bofur Hats!

Maybe I'll cheat and just make a post describing my crafting process for Bofur hats. Because I was lazy today and didn't do anything epic. So my first attempt (mark I) was made with some corduroy and faux leopard fur I already had lying around, and was primarily meant to be a pattern test. I spent a long time browsing pictures of Bofur's hat, and looking at tutorials for similar "bomber hats" and "trapper hats." After a while, I came to the conclusion that I was basically wasting my time, as someone out there had probably already come up with a pattern. 

As predicted, someone had. I proceeded to steal their pattern, print it off, and make my mark I hat. It was actually really, really easy, despite the lack of instructions. Very self explanatory construction is always nice. Faux fur is awful to work with, though, and the hairs get everywhere. Remember to turn the fur over and trace your pattern on the backing, because if you don't, the mess when you cut will be at least 9.113 times worse. (The voices in my head gave me that figure; don't ask me where they got it). 

I then quickly assembled the three pieces, which my machine tried to eat, because that's what machines do. They like tasty fabric, especially really thick, substantial fabric. It's a lot more filling, I guess. Actually, for my mock up / mark I, I had to make two separate hats and then sew them together, which created a nice fur lining with the corduroy on the outside. 

Oddly enough, the way the pattern was sewn and the thickness of the fabric "ears" of the hat lent themselves really well to sticking out the way Bofur's do in the movie. Just a few tacking stitches were all it took.

When I made my mark II hat, though it was different. As mentioned in yesterday's post, I finished dyeing my Sherpa suede and cut out the pieces for the hat. Since the suede was two-sided, meaning it had suede on one side and a textured wool on the other, I didn't have to make a lining for the hat, but could just assemble it the way Bofur's is in the movie, because his is made from actual sheepskin. (When I get rich, I'll make an accurate one, but until that day comes... Sherpa suede will have to do.) The fabric was originally a light tan on the outside, and the "wool" was white. I dyed it in black polyester dye, and darkened the outside somewhat, while turning the wool a nice, light gray. 

Assembling the pieces was even easier than with mark I, as I only had to sew through two layers, not four. This done, I hand sewed the front, folded up piece of the hat, and tacked up the back and the edges of the ears. That makes them stiffer, so they want to stick out like those on Bofur's distinctive hat. The one drawback of the thinner fabric layer for mark II is that it didn't want to stick out quite as much as mark I did, so I'll have to apply a fabric stiffener later. 

Today, I applied the decorative stitches to the seams running along the cap, which was surprisingly quick and straightforward. There must be something wrong. I'm getting worried. Usually something goes horribly, horribly wrong at least once for each project (yesterday's dye apocalypse notwithstanding), and everything went together too well. *glances around suspiciously* Maybe the mischievous crafting sprites have taken the day off. 

But yeah, for any of you attempting Bofur's hat, the stitch used is very simple, and involves hand sewing diagonals across the seam, looping the thread back around each stitch before moving to the next one. That makes for a lot cleaner, more uniform look. I've seen some people sewing weird x's along the seams... don't do that! It's way more work, and it's not accurate. Silly people.

I am going to finish my third Bofur hat tonight, and then I'll probably be content. I don't have three heads, so I definitely don't need three hats. I'll probably donate the others to lucky friends. ;) You know who you are. The third one is actually faux leather (really nice faux leather, mind you, as I wouldn't waste my time with aught else), and a Sherpa fabric. The construction will be more like mark I, but I'm confident the end result is going to be awe-inspiring. I'll probably update this post with pictures when I'm done.

For tomorrow, expect a post on Thorin's tunic, and quite possibly a semi-tutorial. Or at least something mildly helpful for those making one of their own. :)