There is something magical about a hand made gift. They may not be picture perfect the way anything store bought would be, but spending your time and energy to create something one of a kind with your hands is a gift whose value cannot be measured. Creating a felt birthday crown takes this one step further, because you are creating something that is made only for your child, soley focused on them - their interests, their age, their favorites, all for a special birthday.
Today we will share with you how to create a Waldorf birthday crown out of felt. They make look very difficult and intricate, but don't be fooled. Needle felting is deceptively easy, and as long as you can sew a basic blanket stitch, you have all the skills needed! (Even if you do not know how to run a blanket stitch yet, give YouTube a search for a tutorial. There are several good ones, and it is quick and easy to learn.)
Gather Your Supplies:
- Two wool felt sheets in your color of choice
- Wool roving (felting wool) in various colors
- Felting Needle
- Mat to needle felt on
- Length of ribbon or finger knitted yarn cut in two, to create the ties
- Emroidery thread and sewing needle
- Template
- Cloth scissors and regular scissors
- Pencil
Design The Crown
1. Download and print the crown template linked above. We included several shapes, plus both letter and number stencils. You can use these stencils and cut out your child's age number from a different color piece of felt and use a blanket stitch to sew it onto your crown, or you could lay the stencil on your crown and fill it in with needle felting. I chose to free hand the number on our crown, but stencils can be helpful when you are just learning!
2. Cut out the crown template and any stencils you choose to use. Use a pencil to sketch out your design onto this template.
3. Lay the template onto the sheet of felt. You can either use a pencil to outline the stencil, or pin it to the felt with straight pins and then cut it out. Repeat to cut out a second crown shape from felt. One of these will be the front of your crown, which you needle felt the design onto, and the second will be the back.
Begin Needle Felting
4. Take one of these crown shaped pieces of felt and lay it on the felting mat. Gently pull out a small section of wool roving from the ball. Lay it onto the crown and shape it into whichever shape you are felting.
5. Use the felting needle to poke into and through the wool roving, and into the felt sheet. Pull the needle out and repeat. Repeat over and over. As you poke, you will notice the roving begins to condense and stick to the felt sheet.
6. Continue to needle felt the design until you are satisfied with the way the crown looks. I always felt the number on last so it is the most prominent piece of the design. If you chose to cut the number out of another piece of felt, use your sewing needle and embroidery thread to sew it onto the crown.
Stitch The Pieces Together
7. Once you are happy with the crown's appearance, sew on the two pieces of ribbon or yarn for the ties. Sew them onto the blank, back piece of felt so the stitches are not visible on the front of the crown.
8. Line up your two pieces of felt. Use a blanket stitch to sew them together.
9. To finish off the stitches, wrap the embroidery thread around your last stitch multiple ties, secure the ends with a knot, and trim the excess thread.
Your birthday crown is complete and ready to be placed lovingly on the head of the special child on their birthday. It is so fun to set up their birthday table with a Waldorf birthday ring, candles, their gifts, some beautiful flowers, and the crown for them to be surprised by it in the morning. Children are always so excited to see what special touches you added to this year's crown, and to wear it with pride along with a special birthday cape.
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