Craft: Rainbow Felt Birthday Crown (Tutorial and Free Pattern)

I have made felt birthday crowns in the past, for Audrey and her cousin, and a couple nephews. I love celebrating a birthday girl or boy with a crown. (I've made a flower crown too, now that I think about it!) And it's a great keepsake too. So I thought a DIY birthday crown was in order for Scarlett!

It had to be a rainbow crown of course since she was having a rainbow birthday party. I came up with this rainbow and clouds design on a blue background. And I included Scarlett's initial in the middle so there was no mistaking it was made especially for her.

I think it worked perfectly! I've got a free template/pattern and tutorial here if you'd like to make a rainbow crown too. Click through for the details.

And you can view Scarlett's Rainbow Art Birthday Party here.

RAINBOW FELT BIRTHDAY CROWN TUTORIAL

You will need:

• The free template for the felt rainbow crown (download here and print two copies--one to cut out as a pattern for the felt and a second to use as a reference for appliqueing the felt pieces onto the background).
• Scraps of felt in blue (for the background), white, red, orange, yellow green, blue and violet.
• Stiff interfacing.
• A 6" piece of 1"-wide elastic (Or custom fit to your child by measuring the distance between the ends of the crown when it is wrapped around his/her head and adding 1").
• Sewing machine and thread.

Using the template and blue felt, cut out two pieces of the blue background. (The template is designed to be cut on the fold. So you will cut two piece on the fold.)

Interface on of the background pieces with stiff interfacing, leaving a margin around the edges. (If you have a preferred "right" side of the felt put the interfacing on the wrong side.)

Sew the elastic to the ends of the crown as pictured, about .5" from the bottom and with a .5" overlap on each end. Secure well with lots of stitches. I use zigzags.

Using the template, cut out felt pieces for the bands in the rainbow and the clouds. Stitch these to the second background piece using the template as a guide for placement. You can use spray adhesive to hold these piece in place which you stitch or pin them.

Sandwich the two background pieces wrong sides together, so the elastic is in between, and pin all the way around the edges.

Stitch close to the edge, all the way around the blue background pieces.

Enjoy!