Little Red Headband and Key to My Heart Earrings: Comic Book Crafts for Masquerade and Kato

In the series Swords of Sorrow, Masquerade and Kato have been my favorite characters. I reviewed their one shot, and I dug into their backgrounds. Unable to stop there, I wanted to add a little crafty flavor to their fictional lives. It was time for comic book crafts.

I decided Masquerade needed a little headgear upgrade. Seriously, her hat looks like a flying saucer orbiting her noggin. SOS: Masquerade and Kato, May 27, 2015As for Kato, the idea for some dangle earrings didn’t come to me until I’d read her origin story. Before taking up the mantle to search for her mother’s murderer, Kato was a cute, carefree teen. I think she would have had something like these earrings.

The ideas for both crafts were great in theory. I’m a pretty crafty gal, but little did I know: writing tutorials is hard. Making the craft is so much easier. The fact that I didn’t have to come up with the first craft idea all on my own should’ve made this entire process easier, but it didn’t. So, please bear with my instructions, and good luck on your crafting efforts.

Let me start by giving credit for Masquerade’s Faux Tilt Hat Headband to the free pattern and tutorial posted on GrosgrainFabulous.com. The original idea came from a very talented lady, Mena. Check her out when you get a chance. She sews everything and makes it look easy, and all the glory for the faux tilt hat headband goes to Mena.

Now, I didn’t just copy her tutorial word for word. I modified and added my own variations. I think the most important thing to remember about me is: I. Am. Cheap. Second, I do all my shopping at one time, and if I don’t find what I’m looking for I substitute. Making cheap substitutes has interesting results.

And now that we’ve established these important facts, let’s get crafting.

Masquerade’s Faux Tilt Hat Headband

Materials:

  • ½ yard craft felt – The original tutorial called for 1 ½ yards wool felt. Wool felt is not cheap. Craft felt may not have the same quality, but I think it works just as well for this project. Also, you don’t need that much. I originally got 1 ½ yards of the craft felt and have so much left over I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it. You do need some length to make the flowers, so don’t buy those little craft felt squares. Go to the fabric sold by the yardage section. I chose red, because Masquerade wears red.
  • Scissors – big ones to cut things. The original tutorial also called for pinking shears. Those things are like over $20 at the craft store. I don’t pay that much for scissors, so I’ll show you an alternative to the pinking and shearing.
  • 1 to 2 inch headband – It doesn’t really matter the size as long as you get something that feels comfortable on your head. The best thing to do is search through your cabinets where you keep all those old hair supplies. Chances are you have a thick headband you haven’t worn in a really long time. Use it. If not, get one from the cheapest store you can find. This is probably not going to be the craft store.
  • About 12 inches of veiling – this is where I went terribly wrong, and you’ll see the results below. I couldn’t find veiling that I wanted, so instead I bought some type of black netting/mesh. Not the same as veiling. This does not look as pretty, or form as well, and I think I’ll rip it off and just wear the headband without it.
  • Hot glue gun and some glue sticks – everyone has one of these somewhere in a closet. If you don’t, I know the dollar stores (at least in the U.S.) sell the small ones super cheap (there’s my word again).
  • Sewing machine or needle and thread – I have a sewing machine that was gifted to me when I was seventeen. It’s great if you have one, but you can hand sew this. Or you can make this a no-sew project if you are really proficient with a glue gun.
  • Straight pins – lots of straight pins. I like to see how something is going to look before I sew or add glue, so I pretty much cut everything up and pin it together to make sure I am going to like it. Do this especially if you are newer to crafting.
Craft felt, glue gun, many scissors, headband, and black veiling-mesh type stuff
Craft felt, glue gun, many scissors, headband, and black veiling-mesh type stuff

If you are only purchasing the felt, headband, and veiling, this project should come in at well under $10.

Instructions:

Headband
  1. First, you will need to cut the felt to cover the headband. Use the headband to measure the length and width. For the length, add about a 1/4 inch on each end. For the width, take the thickness of the headband, for example 1 inch, double it, and then add at least a ½ inch to each side. In sum, you are looking at 3 inches in width for a 1 inch headband. Remember: We are using the cheap felt so we don’t feel so bad if we make mistakes. (The collective “we” being my fellow cheapskates and I.)
  2. Fold the felt over the headband. Pin it all in place and make sure you are happy with it. Slide the felt off the headband and prepare to sew. Don’t worry about thread color. I used white as a top thread and green as the bobbin thread because my machine was already set up this way. I really can’t explain why.
  3. Sew the felt close to the 1/2 inch excess mark. Sew one end closed, but leave the other opened so you can slide the headband in. Slide in the headband and sew the remaining end closed.
  4. Cut away any excess and don’t worry about the edges. Felt looks pretty when trimmed neatly. If you are going to try a no-sew, glue the fabric around the headband and wait for it to dry completely before trimming.

Sewing machine headband

First and Third Pom Pom Flowers
  1. The original tutorial calls for the first and third pom pom flowers to be a strip of felt at 1 yard by 2 inches. I did not like my flowers that big, so I modified by making them 1/2 yard by 2 inches. Play around with the flowers. You may decide doing many miniature flowers looks cuter than three big ones.
  2. Next, it says to use your pinking shears to cut across one edge, but instead I made little triangle snips across the top. They don’t have to be even or pretty. Once you roll up the flower, you can’t even tell the cuts are uneven.
  3. Then, go back between each notch and cut lengthwise almost to the bottom. Not too close, but close enough that you have long strips.
  4. Here comes the fun glue gun part, start with one end and roll the flower with the notch end at the top. Put drops of glue every few rolls and make sure that your bottom stays flat. (The next three pics will illustrate the cutting and rolling of the flower. Feel free to practice rolling them up before you add glue.)
  5. Make two of these. Once the glue drys, fluff and spread out the top to give it the pom pom look.
DSC05115
Snip out your triangles. (Step 2)
DSC05116
Cut your strips. (Step 3)
DSC05119
Roll your flower. (Step 4)
Middle Pom Pom Flower
  1. Cut a strip of felt 1/2 yard by 4 inches.
  2. Fold in half.
  3. Cut every 1/4 inch lengthwise on the folded end down to almost the bottom. Don’t cut too far.
  4. Roll your middle flower and add small drops of glue every few rolls. Remember to keep the bottom flat. (The next two pics will illustrate the middle flower.)
  5. You won’t need to fluff after the glue drys. If you roll it tightly, it’ll be cute all on its own.
DSC05120
Cut every 1/4 inch lengthwise. (Step 3)
DSC05123
Roll your middle flower. (Step 4)
Pom Poms and Headband Final
headband and flowers 2
Tadaa!

Adding the Veiling and Flowers

You can choose to add the veiling or skip this step.

  1. This is where I like to pin things first. Scrunch the veiling and pin it in place where your flowers will sit. Put it on in front of a mirror. If you don’t like how it looks, keep moving it around and re-pinning until you are happy. Also, if you are not happy with the length in front of your face, keep snipping little amounts off until you are at the right place. Below the eyes and right above the nose seemed to work best for me.
  2. Take out the pins, keep the veiling scrunched, and glue it to the top of the headband. (The flowers will go on top to hide the ugly.)
Headband mesh
Scrunch your veiling. (Step 2)

3. Arrange the flowers on top. Don’t be afraid to pin them down first and then run to the mirror. After you are happy with the placement, glue the flowers over the veiling. Note: To get the most out of the 40s style, glue them to the side and not in the middle; they will look saucy!

The final result.
The final result.

Final Step: Pair with your favorite dress and smile at your cuteness. I used my headless mannequin (I’m too cheap to buy a head) to model a complete 40ish style outfit.

Isn't she a doll?
Isn’t she a doll?

This project only took me about an hour and a half. I would definitely make it again, and probably use black, smaller flowers, and skip the veiling.

Key to My Heart Earrings

Next up, I decided to make some dangly earrings. I remember a few years ago all my mommy-group friends were into making handmade earrings and bracelets. I wasn’t. I couldn’t see the appeal. Now I do. The original idea was to make ninja star origami earrings. However, my origami skills are’t what they should be to make very small ninja stars. My skills are limited to below:

Origami non-fails
Origami non-fails

After several frustrating attempts (one includes tinfoil stars), I gave up and used key charms instead. I figured it still applies to Kato’s personality as she does love her car, Black Beauty.

Materials:

  • 1 pack of assorted glass beads in colors made of awesomeness
  • 1 pack of assorted eye pins
  • 1 pack of key charms
  • 1 pack of fishhook earrings
  • 2 in one pliers (Note: Do not go out and buy the expensive tools for jewelry if you are new to this. You can do everything you need to do with a 2 in 1.)

The cost may put you at about $15, but you’ll have so much left over that you can make several pairs of earrings. I also bought head pins, but I didn’t use them since the eye pins did everything I needed them to.

Earrings supplies
My purchases

Instructions:

  1. Choose a long eye pin from the assortment. Twist open the eye and attached the key charm to the bottom.
Eyepins
Like so

2. Choose beads from your assortment pack and slide them down the eye pin to the charm. I just picked random black and amber beads and didn’t worry about using a specific color pattern.

Glass beads

3. After adding the glass beads, cut off any excess from the eye pin. (You made need to do this because the assortment sizes vary.)

Cutting the eye pin

4. Attach to the fishhook earring and bend the top around the earring loop with the pliers.

And voila. It’s that easy to make a pair of cute earrings. It’s much harder to take pictures of said earrings for tutorials.

final earrings

Not too shabby dangling from my ear.
Not too shabby dangling from my ear.

Will I make earrings again? Yes, and mostly because I have a ton of materials left over and I want to get the most out of my money.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my struggle through these crafts, and if you have any comic related crafts you’d love to share, I’d love to see links to them. While poking around I did find this Green Hornet/Kato crochet mask on Instructables. I’m a basic crochet gal, so I think I’m going to give it a try next.

Happy comic crafting!

Series Navigation<< Review: Swords of Sorrow #6
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Melinda Pierce

Melinda Pierce

Contributor for WWAC, mother of 2 mini-geeks, writer, and girl geek. Dreams of having enough time to write Veronica Mars fanfiction. @melindabpierce

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