Sally (Mickey Ears) Tutorial

We're admittedly Disney fanatics, and while no Disney trip is complete without a complement of fabulous Ears dedicated to all characters and styles and interests $15-$30 a pop means that we appreciate a lot of Ears and visit them when we go.  While there are a plethora of Ears available online we always take the approach of we could totally make that for like $5.

Since Halloween is around the corner and the Mansion is all decorated for Halloweentime Sally was on our minds and we decided to make them for our first attempt at Mickey Ears.  Turns out Sally is the best choice for first attempt Ears so as you mess up and panic your way through you can just remind yourself its ok cause Sally falls apart and has to sew herself back together all the time so every mistake is actually fantastic themed authenticity to your character.

Our day started with a trip to the Hobby Lobby to get supplies (as all great days do).  Since we intend to make all the Ears and put them in our Etsy shop for those of you who think "ooo I want to buy that" instead of "I could make that" we went for the gigantic bolt of black felt in the back for the base of our Ears.  At 72" wide and 5.99 a yard we just got a half yard.  But for a single or even just a few sets of Ears a single sheet of black felt will totally work.  Calico prints and solids were their usual 30% off and we got a 1/4 yard each of light blue, teal, yellow and purple.  Each color was $.87.  You're only going to need tiny scraps of fabric in comparison but who doesn't need extras for other crafts?

First Some Prep Work

We grabbed an Ear Hat that we had to size the Ears turns out official Mickey Ears have a 4 inch

radius, they have a 2 inch flattened portion where they attach to the head and are more like 3.5 inches tall due to the slightly not round effect.

Now on to the Creating

Step 1: Cut the black felt in essentially a figure eight with two the two circles combined as they will wrap around the head band.  We used a skinny head band if you are using a thicker headband remember to make the space between the two circles wide enough to accommodate the width of the headband as well.

Step 2: Cut 2 rectangles each of the teal and purple fabric 5"x 3" long.  Since we wanted two slightly different sized almost squares of yellow we cut one rectangle 3"x 2" long and then randomly cut it into two pieces.  Cut some small circles out of your felt remnants and some stripes as well (the felt is pretty thick and hard to deal with all the varying layers while sewing if you have some scraps of black fabric you might prefer to use them instead of the felt here).  Cut 2 4"x5" rectangles of the light blue to make the bow.  And a small 1"x3" rectangle for the middle of the bow.  

Starting to Come Together

Step 3: Arrange one set of your teal and purple over one side of one ear.  Arrange your black lines and circles to decorate them as you want on the ear then pin in place.  First sew the decorations on to the fabrics, then sew the colors on to the ear.  Sew a zig-zag line across the two colors to attach them together to the Ears (we forgot this step the first time) then sew the yellow square on in the middle. We used a funky zig-zag to appreciate Sally's hand sewn perfection for every step except sewing the fabric to the ears around the outside.

Half-way There

Step 4: Sew the two sides of the ears closed.  Make sure to leave

enough space open for the head band to be slid in the ear.  **If stuffing the ears leave a small hole and fill with stuffing then hand stitch the hole closed.

Step 5: Repeat steps 3-5 for the other ear.  Add any additional lines, dots or swirls you desire with black puffy paint.  Pro Tip: use a needle for super fine lines.  When ready slide both ears on to the headband.  

Finishing Touches

Step 6: To make the bow we took the piece of light blue material folded back on itself and stitched the ends together to make a single loop.  Accordion fold the mid section and then hand stitch though all the layers to secure the mid section.  Fold the smaller piece of light blue fabric in half and then wrap around the front side of the bow securing in back with hot glue.  Decorate with puffy paint stitches if you desire.

Step 7: Hot glue the ears in place to the headband, by sliding one side slightly over placing the glue on the headband and then carefully sliding and pressing the ear into place. Leave one ear unglued slide, the bow in between then glue the second ear. Hot glue the bow to the ears by placing glue on one of the ears where the bow will lay the inserting your finger into the bow and pressing it into place.


Now your Sally Ears are done and ready to rock at the Park whether you're Disney bounding or just being fabulous.

-Amanda and Chaye

Supplies Needed:

Headband
Black felt
Yellow, purple, light blue and teal fabric
black thread
stuffing (optional)
puffy paint (optional)

Confessions of an Insomniac

For as long as I can remember I've had a chronic love hate relationship with my bed  and my nemesis has been sleep. Manage to pass out at the crack of dawn with no alarm set and nothing to do?  Perfect  I'll see you in 20 hours.  Go to bed at a reasonable time with the alarm set for work tomorrow?  I'll be lucky to get 3-4 hours of sleep among the tossing, turning, misery.  Melatonin? Check.  Sleepy tea? Check.  Warm bath or shower? Check.  Eye mask? Salt lamp? Getting desperate here.  Room at an ideal temperature? Ha SoCal apartments clearly only need a single ac unit in the living room who doesn't find gale force winds, and the constant buzzing drone of a lovely box fan jammed in the window to be the ultimate in relaxation 8 months of the year.  83 in your room ? Yeah it's late September.  The soul sucking revenge of 100 degree temperatures, mixed with high winds.  I'm tired.  I'm hot. I'm miserable.  Please winter come soon.

-Amanda

We're figuring it out and discovering how this works and seeing how it goes