Shepherd Beards

My sister and I are in charge of the Christmas Pageant at church this year, and the one thing that the kids all seem to be excited about is wearing a beard. So I decided to try to whip some up. It was actually pretty easy and I think they turned out OK. So, if you have any shepherd's or wise men to costume this season and need a beard, here's how I did it.

Step 1: Wrap yarn around a piece of cardboard. My cardboard was about 9 x 12. To remove the yarn I had to bend the cardboard a bit. Slide the yarn off, keeping it in this shape as best as you can. Step 2: Run the yarn through your machine. This can be tricky, so go slow. I had to stop a few time and tuck the yarn back under my sewing foot... it kept wanting to ride over the top of it. This doesn't have to be perfect or beautiful, and uneven spaces between the yarn are OK.... you can fix that later.

Here's the yarn after it was sewn.

Step 3: Lay the yarn on the middle on a piece of elastic. My piece was about 30 inches long, which turned out to be too long, but you can trim and adjust later. (The elastic needs to fit around the front of the face, in front of the ears and up over the head.) Pin in place, scrunching the yarn together if needed to cover the elastic. Sew in place.

Step 4: Make a moustache. Wrap some additional yarn around your palm a few times to make a bow shape. Tie it in the middle with another piece of yarn. Then sew the ends of the "bow" onto the beard near either ends.

Step 5: Cut the loops that are end the ends of the beard. Adjust the elastic and sew it or tie it to fit your shepherd's head. Then you can trim the beard if needed. I found that the furry type of yarn looks better, but the thick stuff looks ok too.