Debonair Dress-ups

This post original posted on Envirocraftiness as part of her "Movember" series of guest posts.  Go check out her awesome blog - lots of fun recycling/upcycling, frugal ideas!

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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!