Birthday crown tutorial

For the last couple of years I have made Frida a needle-felted birthday crown to celebrate her birthday. I’ve really enjoyed taking a few moments to create something with my hands for her: made with love, it’s certainly not as perfect as if I’d bought something, especially given my inherent lack of artistic talent, but I think making it myself feels a little more special.

Last year, I chose to make a yellow crown with a big ‘3’ on it, as well as a garden scene. This year, after a last minute change of mind, I ended up not putting a number on at all, instead putting four animals on instead (a lamb, butterfly, rabbit, and mouse – the mouse isn’t very clear on the photo I took!) I also changed my mind at the last minute about the colour crown I wanted to make and used a poorer quality felt; I definitely won’t make that mistake again! Regardless of its flaws though, I really hope she’ll enjoy coming downstairs to it on her birthday.

These crowns can look far more difficult to make than they actually are – it turns out needle felting is deceptively easy! – and they are a really special way to celebrate a childhood birthday.

If you want to create your own, read on…

You will need:

Thick wool felt in a colour of your choice (20x30cm will be fine)
Wool roving (felting wool) in various colours
Needle felting kit (felting needle and foam mat)
A length of ribbon cut in two to tie the crown on
Needle and embroidery thread for sewing the crown together
Paper and pencil / pen

Instructions:

1. Roughly plan out your design first on a piece of paper that you can refer to whilst you make your crown. This is the fun part! Consider if you want to make a crown with numbers on, or one which can be reused year after year (or possibly even a family birthday crown which could be used by all the family).
2. Cut out two identical crown shapes from your big piece of felt (you may feel more confident making a paper stencil first).
3. Needle-felt your design on one piece of felt. To do this, lie the felt on top of the foam mat, then place the wool roving into position. Then, simply start poking into the roving and felt with the felting needle to stick it down. You might like to practice on some felt scraps first! As the needle jabs in and out, it sticks the wool fibres together without need for sewing or glue, creating your pattern. You can create layers of colour as well as figures and shapes. This is easier than it sounds, and once you get into it it can be very relaxing. It’s normal for the felt to stick a little to the foam mat with all of the wool fibres, just pull them apart.
4. Once you’re finished with your design, sew both sides of the felt crown together using a blanket stitch (this YouTube tutorial shows it clearly) so that the crown is neat on both sides, sewing the ribbon into each side at the same height.
5. You are ready to celebrate your child!

You can also make your child an accompanying “cape” by pegging or tying a play-silk or other coloured cloth around their shoulders.

Have you ever made a felted crown before? Did you enjoy the process?

If you want to give your family the gift of calm and meaningful family celebrations, you’ll find other ideas for ways to celebrate together in my Calm Celebrations course! Booking is open now, and you are so welcome to join us.