How to Make Cat Ears

A cat costume is a very popular choice for any occasion that costumes are necessary. It can be done very inexpensively because you can create the parts with materials from your home. The ears are an important part of any cat costume. You can use construction paper to make basic cat ears. If you want more realistic ones you can use cardboard and furry felt to create them.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Making Paper Ears

1
Gather your materials. For paper cat ears, you’ll only need clear scotch tape, construction paper (one piece is enough), a ruler, scissors, and a headband. You can use glue instead of tape if you don’t have clear tape.
- Use a headband that matches your hair color so that it blends in when you wear your costume.
2
Draw your cat ears. Draw two equilateral triangles on your construction paper. 3 inch sides are a good size for these cat ears. After drawing your triangle, add ½” to the bottom. This will make it so you can wrap the bottom of the ears around your headband.

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3
Cut out your ears. Use your scissors to cut your cat ears out. Line them up together to make sure that they’re equal sizes. Once you get them to be equal sizes, fold a crease along the bottom ½” up.
4
Attach your ears to the headband. Place your headband in the crease of your cat ears so that it sits flat. If you’re using tape, simply fold the ears around your headband and tape around them. If you’re gluing them, glue along the crease of your ears on the inside of your headband.^{[1]
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- Hot glue will hold best for your cat ears. However, if you’re using a plastic headband be careful not to burn through the plastic.
5
Let them set. If you glued your ears, give them more than enough time to set. If you’ve taped them, you’re ready to wear them! If you want to add something more to your ears, try cutting out white paper in a 1.5” equilateral triangle. Tape or glue this into the center of your ears.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Making Furry Ears

1
Gather your materials. For your furry cat ears, you need two clips, furry felt, cardboard, glue (a hot glue gun or fabric glue works best), a ruler, and scissors. Bobby pins are too skinny to work with, make sure to get some clips that are at least half an inch wide. You want to use flat clips, French clips, or an alligator clips.
2
Cut your ears. You need to cut both the cardboard and the fabric for your ears. You can make triangular or oval ears—depending on what look you want to go for. For triangle ears, cut two equilateral triangles out of your cardboard.
3
Cut your fabric. Wrap your fabric around the cardboard pieces to give you the shape you need. Mark a line where you wish to cut—mark it on the inside of the fabric. Add ½” to this outline and cut your fabric.
4
Glue your fabric to the cardboard. Take your fabric and glue it around your cardboard ears. It will look best if you wrap the fabric over the top and glue at the base of your ear.^{[2]
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5
Fold the bottom 1/2" inch at the back side of the triangle.
6
Glue your clips on the base of your ears. On the bottom of the back of your ears, hot glue your clips. Glue the ears to the top side of the clip—the bottom side will be against your head when you wear them.^{[3]
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7
Let the glue dry and wear your ears. Once the glue dries, put your hair in pigtails. Place the clips above the elastics in a spot comfortable for your cat ears.^{[4]
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Community Q&A

Question

Can I glue the ears directly onto my head?

Community Answer

Please don't. For safety purposes, glue does not go on your head. Try making them clip-on.
Question

I've seen more tutorials that use brushed out yarn knots. Would those be better for making ears?

Community Answer

If you do decide to do that, you'd need to cut short pieces of yarn and then tie one piece into a knot in the middle, brush out either end, and sew it onto a regular felt base. Just getting craft fur would take a lot less time.
Question

Can I glue the furry ears on the headband too?

Community Answer

It may be difficult, but yes, you can.