Baby Minnie Mouse Ears

When my husband and I decided to take a trip to Disneyland with our 6 month old daughter I decided I wanted some Minnie Mouse ears for her.  I had seen some on Etsy, but decided I could try making them on my own.  They turned out so cute!  I'm excited to share the tutorial with all of you.

Supplies:
Black felt
Black thread
Your choice of colored felt for bows
Hair clips
Mesh headband

This was actually not a hard project, so if you're scared of sewing, don't panic.

Step 1:  Trace your circle for the ears.  I just used a glass that we have, it was a little over 3" in diameter.  You just need about a 1/4" for a seam allowance.

Step 2:  Cut out 4 circles (2 for each ear) from your black felt.

Step 3:  Put two circles together and sew around the circle, using the edge of the presser foot as your guide.  I didn't pin as the felt clings to itself.

Step 4:  Clip off excess felt, I cut off about 1/8", so really not that much but it helps.  If you'd rather you can try sewing that close to the edge, but I thought it was a lot easier to just sew with 1/4" seam allowance and cut off the excess.  Then make vertical snips around the edge so that it will turn inside out nicely.

Step 5:  Cut a 1" line through one of the felt circles.  This will be the back of the ear.  Then turn the ear inside out through your slit.  I used the end of a wooden spoon to smooth it all out to make it round.  If you want you can stitch it closed, I didn't because it's the back of the ear, which you don't see too often.

Step 6:  Now that it's right side out, top stitch around the edge, again using the presser foot as your guide for the edge.  And now you have one ear!  So just repeat all the above steps for the other ear.

Step 7:  Now that the ear is done, you need to make the cute felt bow.  I made this up as I went along, and once all was said and done I found this great tutorial from Six Sisters Stuff: 

Felt Bow Hairbow Tutorial

Their tutorial explains it great, plus they have a free template, use the small bow template.

I did basically the same thing, but used thread rather than glue.  I also just wanted the simple bow, without the back felt part, but you decide which look you like best.

Step 8:  (Sorry I didn't take a picture of this part!)  Use a hot glue gun and glue the bottom of the ear to the top of an alligator hair clip.  Then glue your bow at the bottom of the ear so that you somewhat hide the clip.  Now you just clip your cute ears onto a headband and your baby is ready to be the cutest Minnie Mouse ever!

It was so much fun getting to put these on my little girl at Disneyland.  I didn't see any others like them, and they were so much cheaper to make than any sort of infant souvenir you can get in the park.  Hope you have fun making them and let me know if you have any questions!