Time for the second guest in our Movember Series, and it's the lovely Kimberly from Bugaboo, Mini, Mr. and Me. I am so privileged to have Kimberly as a blog friend (makes me feel like one of those cool big bloggers!) because she's always so willing to help out and her creativity amazes me. I know I say this pretty much every time she guest posts here, but she has some of the best wreaths around!! I'll let her get to it now though...
Hello, Envirocraftiness-ians! It's so fun to be back here on Jill's blog again. My name's Kimberly and I blog at http://bugaboominimrme.blogspot.com/
I've been a fan of Jill since we judged a stashbust
competition together what seems like forever ago. We've swapped blogs a few
times, and I'm always a fan of her clever, frugal
ideas.
In honor of Movember I've decided to share some simple
felt stache dress-ups I've enjoyed making for my kids in the
past.
You've no doubt seen many versions of faux facial hair,
especially with the increasing trendiness of mustaches in the past year or so.
Here's what I like about these cuties:
1. Felt. Soft. Cheap. No
fray, so it's super easy to sew. Pretty
durable.
2. Double sided. There's no front and back, so the kids don't have to worry about "getting it wrong" AND that simple feature can provide lots of variations!
3. Elastic ear loops, instead of one that goes around the back of the head. We learned that it was fairly difficult for the kids to get the mustaches in the right spot behind their heads, and even MORE difficult to get the elastic to stay put and not slide down their little heads. We solved the problem and still made sure different sized heads could wear each stache by using two ear loops!
Alright, enough talk. Let's get down to
business.
You'll need:
felt
in your choice of colors (think outside the box! It's
fun!)
skinny elastic OR elastic thread
a sewing machine
mustache templates
a sharpie
scissors
1. Find some mustache templates. I realized that plain old printable mustache shapes that you can resize as needed are actually kind of hard to find. Unless you want to pay for them from etsy. So I made it easy on you and drew up my own on my computer. You can find them on my blog. Once you find ones you like, print them on card stock.
2. Cut them out.
3. Lay them down on a piece of felt. Trace
around the template with a sharpie.
4. You will need two pieces for each
mustache.
5. Cut around the tracing. You will cut on the
inside of the marker line, so keep that in mind when you are sizing your
templates.
6. Measure from the corner of the mouth to the back of the
ear. Double this length and cut two pieces of elastic the total
amount.
7. Lay your mustache pieces together.
8. Fold your elastic pieces in half.
9. With your elastic still folded in half,
sandwich the cut ends in between the two mustache pieces. Do this on
both sides of the mustache, with the elastic pieces directly out or angles just
slightly up. Pin the elastic in place. You can also pin the
mustache pieces together if you are worried about them
slipping.
10. Sew around the whole mustache with matching
thread.
11. Begin sewing at
the top of the mustache in the middle. Make sure to backstitch.
Use a straight stitch and sew around the edge, it doesn't have to be
perfect.
12. When you come to the elastic pieces, make sure to
backstitch a few times over the elastic to really make sure it is sewn in place
and won't pull out when stretched.
One easy and cute, soft and durable debonair little
mustache!
But wait! There's more! Remember how I
said there were a lot of variations to this simple mustache? One
obvious variation is simply making different shapes and sizes of mustaches, but
you can also make a beard! In honor of the upcoming holiday season I,
of course, had to create a Santa version.
I made this beard just as I made the mustaches - two
pieces sandwiched together with the elastic loops inside. I cut the
mouth section out before sewing any of it. Then I sewed around the
outside and used a zigzag stitch around the mouth.
Here, I actually used elastic thread instead of elastic.
If you opt for elastic thread, keep in mind that it is incredibly
stretchy so you will likely need about HALF the length you'd need in regular
elastic. You'll also want to backstitch over it many times to secure
it and make sure your stitch length is set very low, or it will simply pull
out.
And HERE is where it gets really fun. It's
probably my favorite variation to date:
Why is it a mullet stache? Well, folks, like its
namesake, this mustache is all about business in the front and party in the
back!
A nice, normal, neutral color of felt for the front of the
mustache. And just in case you need a little fun, some pep or pizazz
if you will, a bright, fun color for the back. Just to keep them
guessing.
For the walrus stache above, I also freehand sewed
(freesewed?) some dark brown bristly hairs, for a bit of added detail. I'll
probably do this more often since I've decided I kind of love the
look.
And just a note, between elastic or elastic thread - the
elastic is easier to sew in place and make secure, but we have found that the
elastic thread really does work better for tiny ears. The elastic
pieces - even when you used the extra skinny elastic - are sometimes a bit too
bulky behind the ear for little kids. Perfect for adults
though!
Of
course, you could make these for photobooth props or the like, but we like to
use them for our dress up box or Halloween costumes (we used them for Mario and Luigi costumes
last year). This year, I made a bushy
cowboy stache, a Captain Blackbeard beard, a walrus, and a biker
dude.
If you make a matching felt pirate hook (which
you can find here), like the one seen in that photo of Captain
Blackbeard, you'd have a pretty spiffy Christmas present for the little
ones!
Thanks for letting play along with your fun Movember
series, Jill! I had a blast!
