Birthday Crown Tutorial

Birthdays are so much fun. In our family we have a tradition that I make my girls a birthday crown to wear on their birthday. They are two sided so they can use them for two years. But sometimes I just put their initial on it. Below are some pictures of the crowns I've made for some of my friends and family. The boy crowns Velcro and the girl crowns tie a bow in the back.

So if you are interested in making one for your child, here is how to do it!
First pick out two colors of fabric at the store; a quarter yard of the main color and an eighth for the secondary color. Cut out a 5 pointed crown shape from a 6" x 18" rectangle.

 Print out your letters or numbers in the size you want. (if you are fancy just do this with your cricut). Then thickly pencil over the letters.

 Flip it over and rub off the pencil on to a sheet of heat and bond paper.

 Iron them to the back side of your secondary color. Cut out.

 Place them on the crown where you want them and iron them down.

 Then stitch each letter or number or flower down one by one.

Cut out two thin layers of batting or one thick to match the crown.

 Cut out two straps about 1" by 5" for a boy and 1" by 24" for a girl.

 Sew the straps, good sides together, on 3 sides leaving one of the small sides open.

 First snip the corners of the sewn strap with scissors close to where you sewed the one end shut. Then using a pencil on the sewn shut end push up to invert it.

 Pull the rest of the strap down over the pencil. Then you can grab the good side and pull the rest down.

 Then either using the pencil from the inside or just rolling each of the sewn corners between your fingers, to make the corners more of a right angle.

 Place both of the finished straps between your two crown pieces. Make sure you have sewn your letters or numbers to one or both sides before continuing.

 Pin the straps in place so you don't accidentally sew them in the seam of another part of the crown.

 Sew around the whole crown leaving one two to three inch hole open on the end of the straight bottom side of the the crown. Snip close to the seams around the tops of the points and in the valleys of the points of the crown. This will help it be more pointed when turned right side out.

 Snip off the excess straps and trim the batting.

 Turn the whole thing right side out. Iron it after all your valley and points are straight and sew up the bottom to the corner. Lastly for boys add Velcro to the straps the more lenght of Velcro you add the longer they can wear it.

 Voila!