Make your own Cow Ears

To celebrate Chick-Fil-A’s Cow Appreciation Day we are dressing like cows (and hopefully getting a free meal, too!) Unlike last year, when I found out the day of (and had to safety pin black patches over white shirts) I have a couple of extra days to plan ahead, so we’re getting a tiny bit more complex with the cow outfits.

I wasnted to share a little tutorial on how I made several sets of cow ears for my little bovine crew. All the necessary parts I had on hand, use what you have and feel free to substitute what is convenient for you!!You will need:

• 15 inches of grosgrain ribbon, ¾” or 1” width.• Upholstery weight fabric, a small amount, ¼ yard or a fat quarter’s worth or scraps. You need to cut it into 4 pieces 8” x 3.5” . I used some black canvas that was on hand. If you are using a quilting cotton you will need to interface it with at least medium weight interfacing to give the ears some body.
• Thread to match (I had no black – we just moved and I’ve gotten a lot of my sewing supplies out, but I haven’t found the black thread yet. I did have navy blue, which was just fine for quick cow ears!)• A small bit of elastic – 5” or less. Using what I had, I took some stretch lace that was black and just bunched it up. You’ll see what I mean in a minute. You could also sew a tube of black fabric and thread elastic through that or use stretchy black elastic for the whole thing. Now that I think about it, I’m quite sure that we could use a black elastic headband and just attach the ears to that, but I didn’t think about that in the beginning.

So, here we go.

From the 8”x3.5” pieces of fabric, cut an ear shape. Taper towards one end so that it comes to a point. I cut all four out at once so that they were all the same. My fabric was the same front and back, but you may need to consider if you have a definite right or wrong side.
Sew around the ear shapes (2 together, right sides together) leaving the short edge open.
Turn inside out, using something to get the point out (chopstick, blunt pencil, something else not-to-pointy). My six and eight year olds turned all mine out while I sewed the others. Delegate whenever possible!

This is quick and dirty sewing, so I didn’t press, but if your OCD like that, go ahead and press. This is Chick-Fil-A, not the state fair!

Bring the opposite corner of the open end of the ear together in the middle, and sew down with a zig-zag. Trim if you need to neaten it all up. Isn’t that a cute little ear?? Repeat to make another ear. Sorry about the blur! (Or repeat as necessary to outfit all the cows you have)


Measure about 5” from the end of the ribbon and attach an ear at that point. Sew with a zigzag stitch just to make sure it can’t get yanked off by a little brother or sister cow. Repeat on the other end of the ribbon, with the other ear headed the other direction for some sweet bovine symmetry.


Now take the elastic, or whatever stretchy stuff you are using and attach it to one end of the ribbon. If this is for girls, the attaching place will most likely be hidden by hair, so don’t get too crazy trying to make this look perfect. I just folded my grosgrain ribbon up and then bunched up the stretch lace until it was the same width as the ribbon and just zigzagged it all together. Do the same on the other end, making sure that nothing is twisted up.

Try it on one of those little cows and soak up the cuteness!
Make another one, and another! Moooo!