Beelzebub's Fly Hat

This is the main part of my Beelzebub Halloween costume, based on the TV version of Good Omens. I approached it based on skills and supplies I already had at home (I think I bought four items total for this), but there are definitely multiple ways to make this hat without buying a ton of new stuff.

• black pillbox hat base
• black hat elastic
• black sheepskin offcuts (or faux fur alternative)
• black veg tan leather (cosplay foam would be a good vegan alternative)
• eight black chenille pipecleaners
• angelina film
• epoxy doming resin and mixing supplies
• black alcohol marker
• black acrylic paint
• red acrylic paint (bonus points for it being leather paint)
• dark red metallic paint (I mixed my own from chameleon pigment powder and GAC 100 acrylic medium)
• paintbrushes
• glue of your choice
• awl
• old fishnet tights
• glover's needle, and optional ordinary hand sewing needle
• black linen or heavyweight cotton thread, and optional standard weight red thread to match lining
• optional red satin fabric, for lining
• paper, pencil and scissors

Because I used shaggy sheepskin offcuts, I didn't create a paper pattern for this - I just folded it together until I had a 3D oval shape I liked the look of and that fit the size of the hat base. When cutting fur or faux fur, the trick is to only slice through the skin or backing fabric, and not through the fur/pile. This creates minimal mess. I used a leatherworking clicker knife, but a sharp scalpel will also do. I then coloured the sides in with black alcohol marker, so the pale suede side wouldn't show, and stitched my shape together minus the long inner seam, using a glover's needle and black linen thread.

This stage has to be done over a couple of days. First I made a paper pattern for my wings: I was limited by the width of the angelina film, so I marked that out and then cut out a pair of paper wing shapes. I held them up to the body to check scale, then drew the wing pattern onto one of them. I used an acrylic paint pen to copy the pattern onto the angelina film twice, as mirror images, then cut out the two wing shapes.

The doming resin I used mixes at a 2:1 ratio. After warming part A in a water bath for ten minutes, I measured 6.5g out of A, and 3.25g of part B. I mixed thoroughly, until there were no streaks, and then carefully applied it to the first side of each wing, pouring into the centre and then spreading the resin out to the edges.

I waited 24 hours for the first side to cure, and then did the second one and again left it to cure (if you have free roaming pets, make sure the animal and their hairs can't get near the resin!). I got a couple of obvious bits of unwanted resin on the underside of my wings, so I sanded them off and then did an extra coat of resin to refinish the surface.

I again cut out a paper pattern, and held the eyes against the body for scale. I then marked out the pattern on my leather using a scratch awl, and cut the two shapes out with my clicker knife (this is a good time to use up uglier small bits of leather - I used a piece from the edge of a hide, with more wrinkles than I'd want showing on something unpainted). I soaked the shapes in lukewarm water for around ten minutes, then separately moulded them by pulling from the centre of the shape outwards to dome it slightly, and pushing my thumb into the centre while it was cupped in my hand. I did both eyes, then left the leather to dry overnight.

I mixed my pigment powder with the acrylic medium (I have a lot of weird craft supplies, any brown or dark red paint would work fine here), then painted the fronts of my eyes. Once they were dry, I stretched fishnet over both of them, and tied thread round the backs to keep it in place. I then daubed red paint over each eye, and left it to dry.

Once I'd taken the fishnet off I touched up the darker paint in a few places, and put the eyes aside to dry.

Going back to the body, I marked out where I wanted the feelers and six legs to go. I then made two holes for each feeler/leg, one on either side of the marks, and threaded both ends of each pipecleaner through. I then twisted the two ends together, to thicken up the leg, and folded the tips in so they wouldn't unravel.

After I was happy with my pipecleaners, I stitched the body closed using my glover's needle and linen thread. I chose not to stuff it, as the sheepskin gives it a lot of body already, but if you're using something with a shorter pile then you might want to use toy filling here. I then stitched the body to the hat base.

I put the hat on my head, and measured out a length of hat elastic that would go under my hair but stay taut. I knotted both ends, and sewed them to either side of the hat. I then checked it stayed in position on my head.

This stage was done entirely for my own satisfaction - it's not visible when wearing the hat, but I bought the fabric to make a sash for my costume, and I couldn't resist lining the hat with it to match.

I drew a shape roughly 1" bigger on all sides than the hat base, and cut it out of the lining fabric. I then slip-stitched it onto the hat base, slightly gathering the lining to fit, and covering the elastic ends. Absolutely unnecessary, but very satisfying to do.

For the final assembly, I matted together the fur behind the eyes with PVA glue, to give me something more solid to attach to. I then (badly) glue gunned the eyes and wings in place. I hate glue guns.

Because I shouldn't be trusted with glue guns, I did an extra stage of cleaning up after myself. I painted a few bits of gluey fur with black acrylic paint, and also stuck an extra bit of fur at the front of the wings, to make the ugly glue on the wings less obvious. I then shined up the wings and eyes, and called it done.