Feeling regal? A woolen crown is just the ticket for your next fancy dress party or for everyday pretend play. It’s also a fun project to work on with your children.
First, you’ll need some wool. It’s a thrill to felt wool yourself. After all, it’s not every day that you actually try to shrink something in the wash.
Look around your local thrift stores and closets for wool items that are in bad repair. As long as some of the wool is intact, that’s fine. A moth hole or two isn’t a problem, since you’re not going to use the entire object anyway. This woolen object will be the base for your crown.
When you’ve found your old sweater or other item, place it in the washer on the hot cycle. It can go in there with other clothes. When it comes out, it will be partly felted. If you wish, you can place it in there a few times. Let the object dry flat by using clothes pegs to peg it to a board, or press it under something. Otherwise, the wool will fold in on itself.
Once the wool has dried, measure your child’s head. Create a crown shape on a piece of paper, then taper it out into two long tails at each side of the crown. These will be the parts of the crown that wrap around to the back of your child’s head. Measure around the paper shape with a marker, then cut out the felt.
If this process seems too much or the wool turns out lumpy, never fear! You can also buy thick wool felt as well.
Cut a small slot out of the end of one of the tapered tails. Use this as a buttonhole. Sew a button to the other tapered tail.
Now comes the best part – it’s decorating time! Sew yarn along the edges of the crown, or decorate it with other pieces of cut up felt. You can paint your crown, add glitter, add flowers, or do whatever you’d like to make it look fancy.
Image Credit: [bpcraddock]