About
Unleash the wild side.
I went to the Renascence Festival this past summer and bought a tail. I then decided to make some ears to go with it!
This is my first time ever making a tutorial and I'm writing everything as I go (this is my first time making these ears), so bear with me here and sorry for any confusion.
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You Will Need
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Step 1
I made my headband out of wire, since I don't have any ready to go. So if you want to do what I did, you can make yours out of wire.
I made mine by cutting one length, curl the ends and then made a second to match and wrapped them together. To keep the structure from collapsing when made into a headband, I connected them with two shorter pieces of wire reinforced with a thinner wire wrapped around them. This took me about half an hour. The electrical tape was to tape off the ends to keep the wire from tangling with my long hair while I was fitting the pieces to my head. I took them off once i was done.
I recommend using an old headband or buying on of those plastic ones at the craft store to save time.
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Step 3
I started in the middle when sewing on the black fabric, that way I won't have more on on end of the headband than the other when I got to the ends.
I folded the edges together and made two stitches before making small stitches out towards the wire there I made stitches tight to the wire (my fabric was stretchy, so I made them very close) and rapped around the wire a few times to keep the fabric from slipping as I sewed and for when I wear the ears. Then I stitched back to where I had to sew the edges of the fabric.
While sewing the fabric shut over the headband, I went out to the edge once or twice to the edge on either side until I finished sewing the fabric. I did it once between the top and the end and then another time at the end of the headband. You only have to worry about sewing to, around, and along the edge of the fabric if you made a wire headband like I did.
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Step 4
Finally! I got the headband sewn nicely. After this, I put it on my head and looked in the mirror. Using my fingers, I plotted out about where I want the middle of my ears to go, then marked the spot with my tailor's chalk.
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Step 5
Put that nice headband aside for a moment and pick up on of those squares of felt. This is going to be the base for your ears. I'm using black to match the headband.
Looking in the mirror again, only with my trusty measuring tape this time, I figured out about how wide I wanted my ears to be. You can make yours larger or smaller, but I ended up deciding that 2 1/2 inches (6.35 cm) was perfect. I marked this on my black felt twice for two ears.
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Step 6
Back to that mirror with the measuring tape!
This time, you'll be measuring for the depth of your ears. I'm going with 1 3/4 inches (4.445 cm).
Now to mark this on your base felt, find the middle length for each of your ear widths and mark them. Measure your depth from the new marks you made and now you'll have three points to a triangle! (plus a dot)
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Step 8
So, folding. I folded on the first mark I made for the ear width. If you followed everything I did exactly up to this point, that will be the middle marking (counting the edge of the fabric as a marking)
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Step 12
Now here is where the furry stuff comes in. If you never worked with fuzzy fabric before, let me warn you, you will look like you morphed into a fuzzy creature and then back with evidence. I've worked with fuzzy green and black fabric, which had short "hairs" but never faux fur. I've been told that it's good to shave off the edges where you're going to sew. Only sew off as much as the seam allowance. I'm going to with 1/2 an inch (1.27 cm).
With all that said, lay your material out with the wrong side up. Make sure you have the nap correct. I'm doing it so that the fur lays flat with the ends pointing up.
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Step 13
Taking one of your base felt pieces, measure from one corner and around the curvy (the back of the ear) to the other corner. This ended up as 4 1/2 inches (11.43 cm) for me.
Add 2 inches (5.08 cm) onto that. You'll see why we need that extra 2 inches (5.08 cm) later. Since for now 1/2 of an inch (1.27 cm) is my seam allowance, I measured that much in from the edges of the material and marked it. You'll be shaving off this fur later. Mark the total measurement onto the material. My total measurement was 6 1/2 inches (16.51 cm)
Your material should look like this when you've marked everything.
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Step 14
Back to the mirror with measuring tape again! Figure out how high you want your ears to stand with about a 1/4 inch (.635 cm) extra.
I decided to make mine 2 3/4 inches (6.985 cm) tall. Added on with the extra 1/4 inch (.635 cm), that's 3 inches (7.62 cm) tall.
Same as you did with the base, find out the halfway measurement of the first measurement you made for the fur (when you went from corner to corner on the base) and mark it. Measure up from that new point and put down your total measurement for the height of your ears.
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Step 19
Remember when I said to measure and inch into the fabric? This is where we'll be shaving off that 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) from the base of each furry trapezoid. I don't know if there are better tools for shaving faux fur. I just use a pair of scissors.
I marked my 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) with pins. Your trapezoids should look like this when they're done.
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Step 25
Take an ear, and measure out the dimensions of a triangle to fit that opening. You're going to make this triangle with felt and faux fur, or faux fur if you'd like (and shave out a triangle in the middle). I'm going to make mine out of felt and faux fur.
My triangle is going to be 3 inches high (7.62 cm), 2 1/2 inches (6.35 cm) wide, with 3 1/2 inch (8.89 cm) sides. I'm going to make it just a little bit bigger to give myself room for stitches. Probably 1/2 an inch (1.27 cm).
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Step 29
Remember that part we made with the base felt earlier?
Yeah, that. Take one of those, and flip it so that it's all fuzzy inside and take that triangle we just made all nice and ear-looking. Fit it and pin it with the right sides together and sew the faux fur edges together, but LEAVE THE BOTTOM OPEN.Trim extra fabric where you sewed as needed.