Imperial Hat

Costume: Imperial Hat

The Imperial Hat Tutorial

Presented by the Rocky Mountain Fanforce’s Imperial Outfitters and Nostradamus.

1 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

Imperial Hat Tutorial I would like to thank KvanB/Nostradamus of theforce.net costuming board for writing this up, and being gracious enough to allow this tutorial to be placed on this web page. She is a goddess of the sewing machine ^_^ Pictures of the process are currently unavailable, but she is working on them. Remember we can't rush genius! ;-) But there will be a collection of reference photos of the hat in general. Please enjoy, and if you have any questions feel free to contact myself or you can contact Nostradamus on the boards.

Materials • • • • • • • • •

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sheets of heavy paper/newspaper/brown paper bags (to make your pattern) 1/2 to 3/4 yard 60" wide fabric** (black or olive) 1 yard of medium weight fusible interfacing*** ~4" x 12" piece of heavy-weight sew-in stabilizer masking tape tape measure X-acto knife or seam-ripper paper scissors / sewing scissors paper pencil / fabric marking pencil (I use a white grease pencil so I can see the marks on the black fabrics) sewing machine thread iron & ironing board straight pins & safety pins 3 different sized washers (1" / 13/16" / 5/8" diameter, flat nickel) a pea-sized amount of silver sculpy III or an other color and then you can paint it with a silver paint like a silver Testors paint marker) "GOOP" adhesive (or an other super-adhesive)

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optional supplies: a serger

• • • • • •

Tips **fabric tip--look for a fabric that is EXACTLY IDENTICAL (the same) on both sides. This way, you don't have to worry whether you are sewing on the 'right' or 'wrong' side. You will save yourself hours of time & frustration not having to worry about this and not having to rip apart your project. I have used several different fabrics --gabardine--synthetic blends medium weight suiting. ***I highly recommend the fusible interfacing for shirt collars and cuffs. This is very easy to fuse and stands up very, very well!

2 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

The Pattern There • • •

are 6 paper pieces to the pattern. "TOP" --this is the 'egg'-shaped piece that is the very top of the hat "VISOR" --this is the 'crescent' -shaped piece that is the hat's visor "FLAP" pieces --these are the 'football'-shaped pieces that are the front and back outer pieces of the hat • "CROWN" pieces --these are the 'curved rectangle' shapes that make the left and right inner pieces of the hat (if you have trooper armor, the CROWN pieces look just like giant aerator cover stickers from the decal sheet that came with your armor) Trace out your pattern shapes onto a heavy newspaper or brown paper bag because you will be handling the paper pieces quite a bit to get the pieces to fit correctly. Cut out all 6 paper pieces and fit them to your own head by loosely taping them together with masking tape. Always make sure that all your pieces are symmetrical and that both pieces of the crowns and flaps are EXACTLY the same. Your paper hat should fit you slightly loosely, but not too loose. There will be about 10 layers of fabric and interfacing at the finished edge when the whole hat is done. Keep trimming the pieces as necessary and start over if you have to until your paper pieces look exactly like an imperial hat. Do not overlap your paper pieces, cut them exactly to a hat shape. YOU WILL BE ADDING SEAM ALLOWANCE AS YOU ARE CUTTING YOUR FABRIC. The pattern pieces on the following pages are not the actual size.

3 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

4 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

5 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

6 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

7 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

Cutting Out Your Pieces This is what you will need to cut out: • TOP = cut 2 of fabric including your seam allowance*; cut 1 of fusible interfacing to the exact shape of your pattern piece • VISOR = cut 2 of fabric including your seam allowance*; cut 1 of fusible interfacing to the exact shape of your pattern piece; cut 1 of heavy-weight stabilizer ~1/8" all around smaller than the exact shape of your pattern piece. • FLAP = cut 4 of fabric including your seam allowance*; cut 2 of fusible interfacing to the exact shape of your pattern piece • CROWN = cut 4 of fabric including your seam allowance*; cut 2 of fusible interfacing to the exact shape of your pattern piece *remember to add your seam allowance to the fabric pieces you are cutting out. I add ~ 3/8" to mine, because I am using a serger and I have already made a dozen of these..... I would suggest to add a 5/8" seam allowance in any case, so you have room to adjust. You can always cut excess material off when you need to. You are cutting the interfacing pieces to the exact size of the paper hat pieces that you just made to fit your own head. The shape of the inter facing pieces then will perfectly serve you as your guide lines to sew on! SEW EASY!! Make sure you have 12 pieces of fabric, 6 pieces of fusible interfacing and 1 piece of heavyweight stabilizer cut out.

Ironing Read and follow the directions that came with your interfacing. Apply the 6 pieces of interfacing to one side of each of the corresponding 6 pieces of the hat. IF you were not able to locate a fabric that is EXACTLY IDENTICAL on both sides, make sure you are applying the interfacing to the 'wrong' sides of your fabric pieces. Apply the interfacing to the exact center of each of the 6 pieces. Remember, the shapes of the interfacing will be serving as your sewing guidelines. Make sure you now have 6 pieces of fused fabric, 6 plain pieces of fabric and 1 piece of heavyweight stabilizer.

Sewing: Part I 1. Machine baste (~8 s.p.i. stitch per inch) 5 pairs of pieces as follows: • • • •

VISOR = right sides together baste 1 interfaced piece to 1 plain piece along the long edge FLAPS = (2 sets) right sides together baste 1 interfaced piece to 1 plain piece along the long edge for both FLAPS CROWN OUTER PIECES = right sides together, baste BOTH INTERFACED pieces together at the short ends forming a wide cone shape. This will become the outside of the crown. CROWN INNER PIECES = right sides together, baste BOTH PLAIN FABRIC pieces together at the short ends forming a wide cone shape. This will become the lining of the crown. 8

These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat @ this point, slide the two CROWN pieces inside each other, seams together and try it on your head. If it is way too loose, baste again, this time a little further in. If it is already very snug, rip out the basting and baste again a little further out. 2. If you have a serger, serge these basted seams. If you don't have a serger, sew in a line of denser stitching (12 s.p.i.) and trim the seam allowances to ~3/8" on these seams. 3. Turn all 5 of these pairs inside out and press seams. Press both sets of CROWN seams to lie opposite to each other to reduce bulk in the hat. 4. Top stitch the 2 FLAPS top seams about 1/4" from the pressed edge. 5. Place the VISOR-shaped piece of sew-in heavy weight stabilizer inside the VISOR construction. The INTERFACED piece of the VISOR will be the top of the VISOR. Trim the stabilizer if necessary to fit neatly and perfectly inside the piece. Fit the seam allowance UNDER the stabilizer. Top stitch the VISOR's top seam about 1/4" from the pressed edge catching the stabilizer in the seam allowance. 6. Top stitch concentric arcs in the visor approximately 1/4" apart. Use your presser foot as a measuring guide or lightly draw arcs using the out edge of the visor as a guide. Stitch from the outside (interfaced piece) to the inside piece. This will give you the cleanest look. Stitch arcs until you get to about 1" from the open edge. 7. Press these 3 pieces (1 VISOR & 2 FLAPS) and then either serge or machine baste the open edges. Set aside. 8. If you have a serger, serge all 4 open edges of the inner (lining) & outer CROWN pieces. OR machine baste with stay stitching if you don't have a serger. Make sure you have the seams lying flat and opposite each other when you do this. Remember-This is going to reduce the bulk at the seams.

Pinning: Part I This is the most difficult part. Take your time and be as precise as possible. This is what will make or break the complete look of your hat. 1. PIN the narrower opening of the interfaced CROWN piece to the interfaced TOP piece placing right sides together. Place the interfaced piece of the hat TOP, interfacing side down on your work surface. Then take your interfaced CROWN assembly interfacing side out directly over the interfaced hat TOP. This is the position the pieces must be in when you are pinning the hat together. 2. Use the front seam of the crown piece as your center point. Mark the center of the hat TOP piece by folding it in half and drawing a line down the center on the inside interfaced piece. The top of the “egg” piece is the front of the hat. Line up the center of the CROWN and the 9 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat TOP and start pinning using straight pins spaced at ½” intervals. Alternate from side to side as you pin along each side until you get to the back. Keep the shape of the hat as symmetrical as possible. Allow the back of the hat to follow the wider end of the “egg-shape” of the TOP piece. Use the back seam of the CROWN assembly as the center point of the back of the hat. The hat TOP will be “egg-shaped” not oval. If you have some excess material at the back of the hat TOP, do not worry about it. This excess will be trimmed off in a later step. It is imperative that the TOP of the hat remain as flat as possible. If the hat TOP is not flat, you will end up with “muffin-head.” Take you time with this pinning. If the pieces are not coming together in a satisfactory manner, just take out the pins and readjust. It is a lot easier removing the straight pins and adjusting the shape at this stage now rather than having to rip out stitching and having to do it all over later. TAKE YOUR TIME! 3. Repeat this exact same marking and pinning process on the UN-interfaced pieces of the hat TOP and CROWN assembly. This will become the complete lining of the hat. All of the seams on both of these assemblies will be facing each other because the pieces will be fitting inside one another. 4. When you are satisfied with the shape the pinned pieces have created, CAREFULLY baste each assembly together with the straight pins still in the piece. Use your hand wheel to negotiate through the pins. Go very, very SLOWLY to avoid hitting any of the pins with your machines needle and wrecking your sewing machine. 5. After you have basted around both pieces, remove the pins and turn both pieces right side out to see how they look. Turn the UN-interfaced lining assembly back and fit this inside the interfaced CROWN assembly. If any these pieces do not fit together correctly or look strange, puffy, muffin-y or otherwise not right---now is the time to take it apart and re-do PINNING STEP #2. Use your exacto knife to CAREFULLY cut the nice and wide and easy to see basting stitches and separate the pieces and do it over. If you proceed with the hat construction with poorly fitting pieces, you will not end up with a good-looking hat. If your pieces do look right and fit together well, first stitch an other line of closer (12 s.p.i.) stitching directly over the basting stitches. Then trim off the excess material from the seam. Trim to about a 3/8” seam allowance. Repeat this on the lining assembly pieces. 6. Turn both assemblies outside in. Top-stitch (¼” from the seam) the seam allowance to the hat CROWN pieces from the inside of both the outer and lining assemblies. You will see this line of stitching on the outside of the completed hat, so be neat and precise. This topstitching creates a nice sharp seam line on your hat and adds structure to the sides. Failure to add this top-stitching will result in a weak-looking hat. Topstitching the seam to the CROWN of the lining assembly will make it much easier to line the pieces up later in the construction. TOPSTITCHING, do it! 10 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

Pinning: Part II Set the CROWN LINING assembly aside. 1. Take your 2 FLAPS and VISOR assemblies and fold each in half and mark the centers of each of these 3 pieces on the inside (un-interfaced side) unfinished edge. 2. Begin with the FRONT FLAP and line up the center mark on the inside of the FLAP with the center seam on the outside front of the hat CROWN assembly. Adjust the top of the FLAP to line up with the top front edge of the CROWN assembly. It should line up perfectly at the top. The topstitched seam of the FLAP should line up with the top-stitched seam in the CROWN assembly. If the FLAP piece is wider than the CROWN, don’t worry, you can trim of the excess in a later step. a. First, use straight pins to pin the front FLAP to the crown from the outside, alternating from one side to the other to achieve symmetry. b. Then do the same with the back FLAP lining up the center seam and making the FLAP piece level with the top of the back of the CROWN assembly. c. Overlap the back FLAP piece over the front FLAP piece at the sides of the CROWN. IF there is excess material at the unfinished edges of the FLAPS, mark it to be even with the CROWN assembly. Note which FLAP piece is now the front and which is the back. d. Draw a line where the CROWN assemblies shape meets the FLAPS. e. Un-pin. f. TRIM off the excess material of the FLAPS so it will line up perfectly with the CROWN. g. Re-Serge or re-machine baste the open edges of the FLAPS. h. Line up the center of the FRONT FLAP again with the center front seam of the CROWN assembly. i. Start pinning from the outside. Make sure these pieces are lined up. j. Then keeping the outside pins in place, pin the CROWN to the FRONT FLAP from the inside, starting at the center, alternating from side to side placing pins about every ½”. k. REPEAT with the BACK FLAP lining up centers, first pinning from the outside and then pinning from the inside. l. REMOVE ALL STRAIGHT PINS from the OUTSIDE of the hat assembly. m. KEEP ALL STRAIGHT PINS in place on the inside of the hat. ALL unfinished edges should be lined up. The BACK FLAP should be over the FRONT FLAP at both sides. The overlapped portions should be EXACTLY the same on both sides, All straight pins should be on the inside of this assembly and you should see all outside pieces facing the outside and the inside of this assembly should be the interfacing. If this is NOT what you are looking at right now, make your changes and be certain that what I just described is what you are going to sew. It should be looking a whole lot like an Imperial hat at this point.

11 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat

Sewing: Part II When you are satisfied with the shape the pinned pieces have created, CAREFULLY baste the hat assembly together about 3/8” from the raw edge with the straight pins still in the piece sewing from the INSIDE over the straight pins. Use your hand wheel to negotiate through the pins. Go very, very SLOWLY to avoid hitting any of the pins with your machine’s needle and wrecking your sewing machine. Remove pins. Look at the hat. It should look like a visorless unlined Imperial hat. If something is not looking right, take it apart now and re-align it all now. If it looks great and fits together well, stitch another line of closer (12 s.p.i.) stitching directly over the basting stitches.

Pinning: Part III Find the center of the VISOR assembly. Line it up with the center of the FRONT FLAP and CROWN assembly. Place the outside side of the VISOR (right side-to right side; face-to-face) against the outside of the FRONT FLAP. Line up the unfinished edges of both the VISOR and FRONT FLAP/CROWN assembly. Start pinning from the outside center through all layers. Alternate sides. The points of the VISOR should meet the point of the BACK FLAP at the sides of the hat. A slight overlap is fine. Don’t worry about it. If it does over lap, pin the points of the VISOR over the points of the BACK FLAP. Once again, make sure this is all symmetrical. Both sides have the same amount of overlap or space. If not, un-pin and readjust. When everything is in place, pin the VISOR to the hat CROWN assembly from the inside, starting at the center, alternating from side to side placing pins about every ½”. REMOVE ALL STRAIGHT PINS from the OUTSIDE of the hat assembly. KEEP ALL STRAIGHT PINS in place on the inside of the hat. ALL unfinished edges should be lined up. When you are satisfied with the shape the pinned pieces have created, CAREFULLY baste the VISOR on to the hat assembly about 3/8” from the raw edge with the straight pins still in the piece sewing from the INSIDE over the straight pins. Use your hand wheel to negotiate through the pins. Go very, very SLOWLY to avoid hitting any of the pins with your machine’s needle and wrecking your sewing machine. You know the drill by now. Remove pins. Fold the VISOR down. Look at the hat. Is it all symmetrical? Try it on. It should now look and feel like an unlined Imperial hat. If something is not looking right, take it apart now and re-align it again. If it looks great and fits together well, flip the VISOR back up and stitch another line of closer (12 s.p.i.) stitching directly over the basting stitches on the VISOR. Now flip out the VISOR and FLAPS away from the CROWN assembly and sew the seam allowance down around the inside of the hat with a row of top-stitching. You will be folding the seam allowance toward the CROWN pieces and stitching from the outside toward the inside. This will give you a very nice smooth, crisp fold-over edge around the hat and give you a great edge to sew the lining into. This topstitching will NOT be seen, because it is sewn in the CROWN pieces that are now under the FLAPS and VISOR pieces when the hat is folded back out. 12 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].

Costume: Imperial Hat This line of top-stitching also adds structure to the hat.

Pinning: Part IV Take the HAT LINING ASSEMBLY and fit it into the top of the hat as precisely as possible. All seams will be facing each other. Line up the front and back CROWN seams in both the hat assembly and the lining assembly. All unfinished inside edges will be together. Pin the TOP of the lining in place to TOP of the using about 6 large safety pins. Carefully and slowly fold over the raw edge of the lining CROWN pieces into the CROWN pieces. Use pins to help keep the lining in place and to line it all up with out puckering or pulling. Take your time and keep re-adjusting it when ever necessary. As you are getting the shapes to line up perfectly, start pinning the edges of the lining under and into the hat assembly with straight pins spaced ½” apart or less. Pin the entire perimeter of the lining into the hat. All raw edges will now be inside the hat, unseen at any angle.

Hand Sewing Hand sew the lining in place using a tiny whipstitch every 1/8” all the way around. Remove the straight pins as you get to them.

Top Stitching (Don't Worry, you're almost there!) Turn out the VISOR and FLAPS again and sew an other line of top-stitching through all layers of the lining, flap, crown and visor seam allowances. This last line of top-stitching will not be visible in the finished hat and it will be going directly over the line of top-stitching you sewed around this part of the hat in STEP #8. WOW! It’s nearly done now! Try it on your head to see how it fits! If it fits like an Imperial hat, congratulations, you are now done sewing and pinning!

The Greeblie Roughen the bottoms of each of the three washers with a file. Brush off any excess filings. Holding the 3 washers tightly together, take a pea-sized amount of silver sculpy III and fit it into the center of the washers. Keep the Sculpy center in place and bake the whole thing in your oven for 15-20 minutes @ 275 degrees. Remove. Allow to cool. Carefully pry the 3 washers apart with your exacto blade. It is easiest to leave the Sculpy center in the middle washer. Take a small amount of “GOOP” (or an other super0strong adhesive) and stick the three washers and the Sculpy center together being careful not to gopp excess GOOP all over the washers. Find and mark the center point of the outside of the FRONT FLAP. Apply a little more GOOP to the back of your washer assembly and viola! It’s DONE! FINALLY! You have an Imperial hat.

13 These costumes and characters are the property of George Lucas. I am making no profit by presenting this material here. Photos are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. And others belong to companies and individuals that posted them on the internet. If you see a photo in this tutorial that does not belong here, or credit has not been given, please notify me at [email protected].