10.04.2009

Felt Crown

A few weeks ago my littlest princess turned 2. And what 2 year old princess having a Pinkalicious party doesn't need a pink crown to wear for her party??



So I decided to make her a simple felt crown. In order to have 20 calm minutes to myself to actually make the crown I knew turning a movie on would be necessary. Unfortunately giving the kids use of the computer to watch a movie meant I wouldn't be able to take advantage of one of those super simple and adorable crown tutorials that are all over blog land.

So I made it up as I went along. It was so fun and easy that I decided to make 2 more crowns. And then I decided it was SO fun and SO easy that I needed to post mine as yet another blog land felt crown tutorial. Which of course meant I had to make.......just one more.



So here you go.....

To start with you will need:
1 piece of stiff felt (top color)
1 piece of regular soft felt (background color)
Embroidery floss and needle
Scissors
Paper and pen (if you care about precision)
2 strips of velcro (app. 2 inches long)
Sewing Machine



Cut both of pieces of felt in half length wise and stitch short ends together to make two long thin strips of felt.


Let's start with the top layer of your crown. This is the stiff piece of felt.

If you would like to create a template with the paper, now is the time to do so. This will ensure that each curve or point or shape of your crown is the same all the way around. If you are up for a more organic look, then just take the scissors in hand and cut out the shape of your crown tips, no pattern necessary.


Using embroidery floss, decorate the top layer of your crown. Any way you like. It might even be fun to try some buttons, sequins, rick-rack, puff paint....the possibilities are endless so get creative.

Clearly, I kept it pretty simple this time around.

Now lay your finished top piece onto the background piece of softer felt. I let the background color peek out from the bottom as well as around the top. Stitch these two pieces together sandwiching the embroidery knots in-between the pieces of felt. On this particular crown I used a wide zig-zag stitch across the bottom and a straight stitch around the curves on top. This is a matter of preference and should vary with every crown. (You can see the stitches better in the next photo.)


Trim the background felt down to show just the way you like it.



Sew the velcro strips on to alternating ends of the crown. They need to be on the front on one end and the back on the other end. One thing that makes this part easier is leaving straight strips on both ends of the crown. When the ends overlap you won't have to worry about the peaks of the crown lining up and you have a nice obvious space for your velcro without feeling like you are destroying your designs.


And there you have it. A crown fit for a king. Or a princess. Or anything you wish. I think I might attempt a pirate themed crown/hat for my nephew's birthday next month.


Happy Sewing!

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