How to Make Easy No Sew Animal Ears

Whip up a costume in minutes with these super easy, no sew animal ears. You can make these ears for cat costumes, bat costumes, bunny costumes, and more…

I love to make simple costumes for our kids.

Animal costumes are always great for a quick, DIY option. (I have shared before my Pink Panther costume tutorial and my black cat costume video tutorial.)

A couple years ago, I made bat costumes for our girls. And made a short video about how to make quick, no sew animal ears.

For the girls’ bat costumes, I sewed ears using the fabric I used for their bat wings. Since I was already sewing their bat wings, a little extra sewing was not an issue for me.

But, for those of you who might not want to sew or don’t have time to sew, I decided to also make up a pair with a NO SEW method, using felt instead of fabric. (You could also use a thick fabric that doesn’t fray or a material like leather.)

This method works for all kinds of costume ideas — you can make bat ears, cat ears, bunny ears, pig ears, etc.

Watch How Easy It Is

What You Need

You may already have everything you will need for your animal ears at home. But if not, a quick stop at a dollar store or a craft store will get you ready.

1. Headband
2. Felt (in the appropriate color for your costume)
3. Two pipe cleaners (these will allow you to bend and shape your animal ears)
4. Glue gun

Step 1

Use pipe cleaners to form two triangles. Size and shape the triangles according to your costume – small triangles for cat ears, larger triangles for bat ears, and long skinny triangles for bunny ears.

These triangles will serve as the “skeleton” for your ears, allowing you to shape and bend your finished animal ears.

Step 2

Fold felt in half and use the pipe cleaner triangles as a template to cut out your felt ears.

Make sure you cut your felt ears about 1/4 inch larger on each side than the pipe cleaner triangles, and place the bottom of the triangle about 1/2 inch from the fold of the fabric so you have room to fold the bottom of the ears around the headband.