Halloween might be a little different this year, staying home watching scary movies and keeping yourself and the community healthy. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still get in costume! This year, I decided to celebrate Halloween at home and decided to be a white-nosed coati! To truly represent this unique looking animal, I made a simple felt mask.
If you or your little ones also need a last–minute Halloween costume and are feeling crafty, this is the perfect project to represent this Sky Island animal. All you need is some felt, glue, thread, and a sense of fun!
Everything I used can be found at a craft store for less than $15. This mask, if you choose not to sew it, will be done in a flash! Even with the sewing it only took 3 hours to complete.
Materials:
- Craft felt: 2 colors of brown, white, and black
- Ribbon or string
- Tacky glue
- Scissors
Optional:
- Embroidery floss and needle
Ready?
1. First, we need a pattern. Either download and print this coati mask template or draw your own.
2. Using the pattern as a guide, cut out the base of the mask out of the lighter brown felt. This will be the foundation we glue everything to.
3. Then cut out the markings on the pattern and use them to cut the appropriate colors of felt.
- The ears, nose, eye rings, and cheek dots are all white.
- The snout, and forehead are dark brown.
- The nose is black.
4. Once everything is cut out, it’s time to glue everything down!
5. And there you have your coati face! If you are feeling handy with a needle and thread, keep reading. Otherwise, skip to step 8.
6. To secure the felt in place, go around the edge of all the pieces with a needle and thread.
7. If you want to make the mask more decorative, use some embroidery floss to add some ‘fur’ to the mask.
8. If you want to cover threads on the back, cut another coati face and sew it together to hide the knots. Ribbon image
9. Once you are happy with your coati face, it’s time to make it a mask! Cut a length of ribbon, yarn, or string and sew or glue it to the mask and you’re done!
I added bells to the ribbons to make it fancier, but you can decorate it however you’d like.
To complete the costume, I used clothing and other costume pieces I had around the house. I recommend pairing the mask with a brown shirt, black pants, black shoes, and some fun nature-y accessories. If you want the coati’s signature tail, pick up a brown feather boa or fluffy yarn to complete the look.
If you’ve made this mask or plan to be another Sky Island animal for Halloween, tag Sky Island Alliance on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We would love to see your creations! 