Halloween Crow with Collar and Hat
It’s August and, though it’s still a sauna here in middle America, I’m starting to dig into the Halloween decor. For this year, I plan to trickle the Halloween season out in small doses. I want to take my time and enjoy the process rather than try to get it all done over a weekend.
I also plan to alter and repair some pieces that need a bit of TLC. For example, I incorporate several crows into the display every year, and some of them are beginning to look a little haggard – dropping feathers, missing eyes, bent legs, etc. So while performing Halloween ER, I thought I’d have some fun and get a few of my feathered friends a vintage look by adding crepe paper collars and hats.
We have a few true vintage pieces in our collection that still have their crepe paper accents. My favorites include this horn and hat.
Both pieces are pretty delicate, so I don’t usually move them around. This project will give me the vintage look I love without endangering our fragile pieces.
So let’s get started. We will need:
Crow – any size
Crepe paper streamers
Scissors or rotary cutter with mat
Needle and thread
Scrapbook paper
Hot glue or tape
For a small to medium size crow, cut a 24″ length of crepe paper streamer.
You can make a collar using a single layer of crepe paper, or you can do several.
The collar shown here is four layers. To recreate it, trim down the width of your streamers. For example, I trimmed the orange to 1″ wide, the white 3/4″ wide, black 1/2″ wide, and the orange dot 1/4″ wide.
Stack your crepe paper, widest on the bottom and thinnest on the top, lining up one edge as shown. Using a threaded needle, sew a straight stitch alongside that edge.
Gently gather the crepe paper as you go. Continue stitching and gathering until you get to the end. Then, try the collar on your crow to make sure it fits.
Connect the ends and gently knot your thread.
Adjust your gathers if desired and slip onto your crow.
To construct the hat, get the free PDF printout or SVG cut files which you can find in the Haunted Library.
Take your file, and either hand or machine cut your hat from the scrapbook paper.
Gently form your hat into a cone. Hats for the larger crows will have a slight overlap. For the smaller crows, I rolled the hat tighter with more overlap.
Once you have the look you want, secure it with hot glue or tape.
Adorn your hat with crepe paper fringe, glitter, or other embellishments.
I opted for a thin elastic band to keep the hat on the crow’s head, just like a real party hat. Hot glue is a great alternative if you want the hat to be more permanent.
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It’s easy to get carried away. Before I knew it, I had decked out an entire murder of crows.
Until next time, stay spooky.
