Tutorial

 

I'm in love with the whole baby cake smash photo shoots. I just had to do one for my daughters first birthday complete with the tutu, buttercream cake and especially the Mini party hat. I found some beautiful handmade crowns on Etsy but me being me left everything last minute again and it would have taken to long to come. So I thought I'd attempt to make my own.  

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• Sheet of gold/pink glittered felt - I got mine on ebay.
• Decorations- flowers (I got mine from hobbycraft), Crochet lace (found in the poundstore!) 
• Glue gun
• Fabric scissors
• Elastic Cord 

1. Draw your template on back of the glittered felt sheet. 
The measurements I went with were  25cm L x 10cm H. 

**I did 6cm for the height of the band and 4cm for the spikes. As my length was 25cm, I  drew the spikes 5cm apart. Its also important to add an extra 2cm tab bit on end so you can pin the crown together. 

2. I didn't like the colour of the yellow felt back so I traced the template onto some pink felt and using some double sided tape stuck both bits together. The tape works better than glue as I find glue tends to make the fabric a bit stiff and harder to bend.

* Make sure to stick the tape right to the very edges! Once down just trim any rough edges. 

3. DO NOT stick down the side where the tab will slot into! Only stick it down once you've folded the tab inbetween the two felt sheets, this way the tab is hidden and its a clean finish. I made this mistake and spent ages trying to pry the felt sheets apart. Once it's in you've got your crown! Well almost...

4. Here's where you'll need to recap over those boring maths lessons and pull out that compass and calculator. You will need two circles to fit onto the bottom of the crown. 

The circumference of the circle will need to be 25cm. Now I went and did the whole divide by PI to get the exact measurement but to be honest you can always just draw a circle big enough with your compass and then go in and trim the excess bits off.  

5. Use the glue gun around bottom rim and stick your first circle down.  Measure your childs head with the elastic to make sure its the right length. With the glue gun, glue both ends down and then glue the other circle on top to cover the elastic. 

6. Now you can choose whatever decals you want. I found some crochet lace and glue it down and popped some flowers along the bottom with the glue gun. I'm really happy with how this came out, I also went on to make mini pom pom hats for my other daughter and my niece.