felt crown {tutorial}

 

The original crown. The 'jewels' are attached with velcro so that they can be chosen by whoever is wearing the crown.

The church I belong to has a Sunday school organization for children under the age of 12 called Primary. The Primary president wanted to encourage the children to sit reverently during a particular part of the Primary programme. She thought that a 'Reverence' crown might help, so I offered to make one.

Of course, I couldn't just make one! These crowns are very quick and easy.

I always think that when it comes to making items that will be used by children they need to be sturdy and washable. So this tutorial will show you how to make a sturdy, washable crown!

It is adjustable to fit small and big heads alike (yes, even an adult with a huge head can wear them!).

Here's what you need:

• 17cm (7") velcro
• interfacing
• felt
• pre-cut felt shapes (or cut your own!) or other embellishments

Cut two crown shapes from the felt. My crown shape is 25cm (10") long and 16.5cm (6.5") high. Crown shapes can be hand drawn, printed from the internet, or leave a comment requesting my shape and I'll send it to you.

Cut four rectangles 28cm (11") x 6cm (2.5") from the felt.

Cut a slightly smaller crown shape from the interfacing. I used a heavy weight non fusible (sew in) interfacing.

 Don't mind the change of colour in the photos. I started the tutorial with a blue crown and finished it with a red crown.

Adorn one of your felt crown pieces with whatever takes your fancy. Use washable embellishments and sew each one firmly to the crown shape. Don't attach anything right on the edge of the crown shape; leave a 1cm (0.5") gap around the edge.

 Sew each of the two pieces of velcro (one hook and one loop piece) to a felt rectangle. Ensure that each velcro piece is 2cm (3/4") from the end of the felt rectangle.

Sew the remaining felt rectangles to the back of each rectangle that has a velcro piece sewn onto it. Start sewing at the end furthest from the velcro. This end can be left open.

  Make a crown 'sandwich' by placing the interfacing between the two felt crown pieces. I know this is obvious, but I'm going to say it anyway. Make sure your embellished crown piece is on the outside!

 It's probably a good idea to use a few pins to keep everything from moving around. Starting from the bottom of the crown (see photo below) sew around the crown 1/4" from the edge. Don't worry about catching the interfacing - being slightly smaller in size than the felt crown pieces it just sits inside - you're not actually sewing it down. 

Stop sewing when you get to the end - a strap needs to be attached before sewing it down.

 Place one of the head straps inside the crown 'sandwich'. Leave 2.5cm (1") inside the crown 'sandwich' to increase the sturdiness of the straps.

 

 When placing the strap before sewing ensure that the velcro strip is facing upwards.

Make sure that the velcro strip is facing upwards.

 Sew over the straps a few times to reinforce them before continuing around the top of the crown.

 When you get around to attaching the second head strap, attach it the same way as the first strap, except make sure that the velcro strip is facing down.

Make sure that the second strap has the velcro facing downwards.

If you find that the two felt crown pieces have shifted a little after sewing them together, trim them up and they'll look perfect!

 I've made a few crowns now. They make fantastic gifts for younger children. We gifted two to Eli's kindergarten teacher for the children to wear when it's their birthday.

 If you do make a crown or two, I'd love to see a photo!