DIY Keroro Gunsou Hat

Since we're going to Otakon, we're going to need some cosplay. Especially since we'll be meeting up with Friends J and M, who we hardly ever get to see.  (Actually, I still haven't met Friend M, but soon enough!)

Most the time I think we'll just repurpose our casual cosplay from Fanime since we have to travel light and I don't want to bring something the TSA might deem weird - like a wig or something.  But we wanted to do a group cosplay with J and M too.  It'll still be casual though. 

Anyway, since they are really into Keroro Gunsou, that'd be a good place to start? As I'm sure you're all familiar - Sak and I are kinda big fans of the little frog dudes.

Our first time-intensive cosplay..

On our wedding cake...

Wedding plushies Cousin T made for us..

Yeah. We're big fans. Haha.

(source)

For casual cosplay, I'm thinking hats, and maybe a t-shirt with the white "belly" sewn on with the emblem? Friend J wants to be kero (green), Friend M wants to be Giroro (red), leaving me to be Tamama (again yay! dark blue) and Sak to be Kururu (orange).  Kururu actually fits him quite well as he's a nerdy tinkerer with glasses. :P

Anyway, I have some leftover scrap fleece so I started with Kero's hat.  I used an existing neko fleece hat (from Digi Charat - I've had this thing forever) to trace out a pattern (minus the ears).

I cut out two pieces in fleece, and sewed them together.  I mistakenly thought I could roll hem the edge of the hat. Uh, this doesn't work so well on fleece, as the back hem of the hat is totally warped. Murgh.

warpy!

Next I cut out some ear flaps, and lined them up with each seam of the hat.

Pinch, pin and sew both sides.

Lastly, I trimmed any excess fleece, and hand stitched a red felt star emblem to the front.

Kind of a derpy star though.

And..hat complete.

I dunno. I'm not sure if it passes muster or not.  The raw edges really bother me, though it's fleece so it's not really going to do much fraying. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I even have enough scraps to properly line the whole thing, and the added bulk sounds...warm. Can I put bias tape on a fleece hat? Is it okay as is, Friend M, or do you want a properly lined hat? Kero Kero!