https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/bat-ears • Posted by Britta J.
As a fan of Deathnote, I want to be a Shinigami for halloween this year. Not any in particular from the series, I'm going to make my own look up :) I figured a pair of bat-like ears would be a good start! This took me about 3 hours to do over a couple of evenings because I was making it up as I went along, but with this tutorial yours should go a lot quicker!
As a fan of Deathnote, I want to be a Shinigami for halloween this year. Not any in particular from the series, I'm going to make my own look up :) I figured a pair of bat-like ears would be a good start! This took me about 3 hours to do over a couple of evenings because I was making it up as I went along, but with this tutorial yours should go a lot quicker!
Gather your materials. You'll need black and white felt (or whatever colours you want to make yours!), a sewing needle, thread in black and white (or whatever;P), two hair clips (I used the type they use for fake hair add-ons, they cost me £1 each from the market :S anyone know where I can get them cheaper?!), scrap paper for planning your patterns on, a pencil, pins to hold bits in place, and scissors.
Fold a piece of paper in half lengthways and draw on it half the shape for the outside of the ear. Cut it out and unfold it and you will have a nice symmetrical shape. I made mine roughly 8.5 cm (height) by 6.5cm (width accross the widest part). Width accross the base was 5.5cm.
Place your shape on another piece of paper and line a hair clip up under it to see how much room it will need. Trace your shape and draw a bit extra at the bottom to accommodate the hair clip. Pin the smaller shape and the taller shape to black felt and cut them out, two of each.
You should now have two ear shapes and two longer ear shapes in black felt. Each shorter one will pair with a longer one to make the final two ears.
Take your original ear shape that you made in step 2 and re-fold it lengthways. Draw within it half the shape for the inner ear. Mine was 6cm in height, 4.5cm accross the widest point and 2.5 cm accross the base. Pin this to the white felt and cut out two.
You should now have two ear shapes in black, two long ear shapes in black and two inner ears in white.
Pin the white inner ear to the original black ear shape and sew it on using white thread so it doesn't show up too much. I used lots of little stitches to get the felt pieces together with no gaps so hopefully it'll last a long time. Do this to both.
Take a long ear piece and line it up with the ear shape you just sewed, with the white inner ear sandwiched between them. Use black thread to sew them together with a running stitch about 2mm in from the edge. Leave the base side open so that you can turn it right side out. Do this to both.
(At this point you can choose to put in some stuffing. I didn't because I find the felt is study enough without, plus I don't want them to be too heavy.) Pinch the base together and sew it shut so that the inner ear base cannot be seen in the fold. Turn the ear to the left and sew on a hair clip, being as thorough as you can because this is the bit that will get most wear. On the other one, turn the ear to the right so that you sew the clip onto the other side, otherwise you'll end up with two left ears or two right ears.
This should be what your finished product looks like. Wear them with pride!