Tutorial - DIY Mouse Ears - Perfect for Disney!!!

OK, so if you have ever been to Disney anything, there are “Mouse Ears” all over the place! The temptation to buy them or the opportunity to hear “I WANT THOSE!” will surely arise if you are like the majority of Disney-goers, especially if you are on your first visit. So, here is what I did before my family went on a Disney Cruise and before our trip to Walt Disney world…I made a total of 14 of these babies! I didn’t want to shell out $15+ for each pair, but we needed them!

Here is how to make your own Mouse Ears on a budget! You will need:

-Black hat or black headband (Dollar Store)

-Black felt (or fleece may do)

-Hot glue gun

-Glue sticks

-Scissors

-Foam board (won’t bend like cardboard) I got a huge sheet for $1 at the Dollar Tree

-Ribbon or bow for Minnie Ears if desired

First, decide how wide you will want your ears to be. I found an old snow globe that was a little over 3 inches in diameter and traced out my ears on the foam board. I needed 5 sets today, so I traced 10 ears.

Cut each set out. It is slightly difficult to cut the board with scissors, but don’t worry if they aren’t perfect. This is a very forgiving project…and they don’t need to be perfect anyways!

Now, get a piece of felt that you can fit two ears on side by side and have enough space on either side of the ears for the width of a headband. You will need some extra room.

Now, remove one of the ears, leaving the other in place. On the side of the remaining ear that faces the close edge of the felt, mark out a ¾ inch space. This is where we will make our “flaps” that will hold the ear in place on the hat or headband. When your space is marked off, take your glue gun and put a bead of glue from one marking around the entire loop of the ear and stopping at the other mark. This glue should look like a circle minus the ¾ space that should have no glue on it. Fold the material over the ear tightly and make sure the glue sticks.

Now, flip the side of the ear over and note where the ¾ marks should go. I don’t normally mark these out, but I did with a number “2” to show you that this is on the opposite side. When you glue this side, you will put the glue along the SIDES of the circle (and a bit on top of the circle, again leaving the ¾ open in the same spot for the “flap”.

 

Take your fingernail and press the newly glued sides right onto the sides and other piece of the felt.

Note in the photo above that the left side is not pressed down tightly. This is where the ¾ space is.

Once the glue dries, you can cut out your ear. Both pieces of material should be glued together around the sides. When you cut, you can make the ears more “round” if your foam board was hard to cut and a little pointy. The glue is hard, but you can cut through it. Start at the fold of your felt and circle toward the ¾ space.

When you get to that space, Cut a straight line to the edge of the felt. DO NOT CUT THE ¾ SPACE. Now, do the other side of the circle and stop at the other side of your ¾ space, making a straight line to the edge of the felt.

Now you should have flaps that look like this:

 

Now you have an ear!  Easy, right? All we do now is attach them!

For a boy’s/man’s hat:

Mark out with a sharpie or chalk where you want your ears to go. I usually do it just before you get to the second side seam of the hat. In the photo below, I marked it just a bit too forward for my liking, but it still looked cute.

Now, take an ear and spread the flaps open with one hand. Fill the open spot where you can still see the foam board circle with hot glue.

Now, you have to place the glue onto your hat marking. ***Important: Make SURE you have your opposite hand push the underneath of the hat at the same time “squishing” the glue between the ear and the hat.*** Both fabrics must be tight to make sure the ears stand up when you wear them and are not “floppy”. Repeat with the other ear.

Now, run a bead of glue under each of the four flaps on the hat to press a bit of the flap onto the hat to stick as well. This will give it a bit more support.

When the glue is dry, you can cut the excess part of the flap off…and VOILA! Mouse Ears that men will wear! And, they are functional and keep the sun out of your eyes!

For a Headband: (I am a dork and grabbed a blue headband as you can see…I had to wrap it in felt which is OK, but I’d go for a black headband.)

You will again mark out where you want the ears to go on the headband. Attach the ears the same way, except wrap the excess flaps AROUND the headband and attach with hot glue.

I added a hand-made bow to make it look like Minnie. Putting it to the side gives it a bit more support, but you could play around with it!

ALTERNATIVE: Instead of using just black material, try getting the fancy decorative felt at your crafting store! You could do zebra, polka dots, paisley, anything!

Me & my father-in law

Have you made mouse ears before? Comment below and give me some ideas! 

Don’t forget to pin me!