The Final Product

In preparation for the final Geles, the African patterned fabric had to be starched backed with a heavy Calico and stitched together. This made the fabric stiff enough to be folded and also maintain its shape. Each hat was made up of an oblong piece of fabric (about 60cm x200cm, if the piece is too long or wide it then becomes too heavy to hold its shape when it has been folded. Instead of sewing the wrong sides together to make a standard seam or a French seam, I chose originally to over-lock the edges as this is a quick and neat process, however the over-locker uses four reels of thread all of the same colour which is problematic if you want to use coloured thread. I decided as an alternative to fold in the raw edges and use a contrasting coloured zig zag stitch to add a finishing detail. 

To construct the hats I folded the fabric in exactly the same way that a real Gele is folded, but instead of folding around a head I used a hat block. Once the hat had been tied there is a certain amount of adjusting to get the desired shape, despite its flimsy appearance if the hat has been tied tightly then you can be quite rough and bold with it. To finish the piece I stitched some of the layers together to preserve the shape and add some strength. 

Finished Gele Front

Finished Gele Back

I did not have enough of the patterned fabric to make all the hats with one single length of cloth so I used two off cuts to make a new piece of fabric.

Gele made from the left over fabric

The final flourish was to stitch the felt skull cap into the hat this again served to maintain the shape of the hat so that they did not crumple under their own weight and also add a professional finish to the piece.

Skull Cap inside Gele

Once all the hats were completed I then packed them with tissue paper to protect them in transit and when they are stored inbetween performances. I also produced an invoice to be signed by Walk Tall on the collection of the products.