DIY Felt First Birthday Crown – Template
This DIY felt first birthday crown template is perfect for little boys and girls – and easy to craft! When you’re done, you can check my felt DIY first birthday hat tutorial too. This post contains affiliate links.
Your little one is turning one, and wow, you’d do just about anything to make that day special. After all, it’s very much a celebration of a year since you’ve gotten possibly the greatest gift possible.
I know all about it, I was just there.
We just celebrated Baby Jay’s first birthday party, and I know I need to share all the details. It was truly special.
Besides for his unique personality – he’s just so full of life and humor – he is a rainbow baby, and I guess the blessing and miracle of it all hits home that much more.
So I’ll be sharing the details of this DIY felt birthday crown I crafted for him, followed by some other unique crafts I created – some designed from scratch – for you to replicate.
Eventually I’ll share all the details of his birthday party. Sometimes it takes me time (yes, years) to get to all of it but I’ll try not to let it take that long this time!
I’m starting with this DIY felt birthday crown, because the photos of him wearing it came out too cute so I just can’t wait.
I crafted it twice. First, I made a whole-head crown. It came out really cute but it covered all his red hair, and felt like it kind of stole a part of his personality! So I recrafted it as a “birthday hat” that sits atop his head.
I share both ways here, as well as various ways you can assemble it to make it easiest for your needs.
Different ways to craft a felt first birthday crown
Full Head Crown
My first instinct was just to create a full-head crown, which is what I did.
I created it with a burgundy lining and a mustard yellow outside. It was based on what I had handy. I cut the one out of the main crown to show the lining through (the template gives you multiple options and it’s not fixed – you choose which one you want). You can also cut a one from a separate piece of felt (which I show below).
However, while totally adorable, it somewhat missed the mark. First, his copper hair didn’t show. Second, the bits that did totally clashed with the burgundy – so I knew I had to remake it anyway!
And finally, the burgundy didn’t really match our party so I needed to redo it.
It does, however, sit comfortably on his head. I used soft felt, which is important, so that baby is comfortable with it. The template is easy to trim down a bit (much like a paper birthday hat) to adjust to your kid.
It is a very tall crown -for drama, which you can adjust to your needs, trimming off the bottom if you want it shorter.
Birthday hat – crown shaped
I went back to the drawing board to make a smaller birthday-hat style DIY felt birthday crown. This template is smaller but not tiny. It perches on baby’s head like a headband/crown and is in a way more comfortable.
I was sure Baby Jay would complain about the elastic, but he actually didn’t mind it! He kept it on for most of the party – he only took it off when he tried relaxing by feeling his hair and discovered it.
This one has a separate cut out word one. It’s made from the same soft felt as above, however I got sage green and tan for this one. It worked much better with our party colors, and looks fabulous on the little gingy.
Sewing vs. No Sew
You may have noticed another difference between the two DIY felt first birthday crowns. The small one is sewn and the large one is glued!
I actually did sew the seams of the large one and at that point I decided I do want to sew the rest. I usually hand-sew felt, but this felt sewed so nicely, I just went with it.
Ultimately, you can craft this either way, and I share the tutorials for both below – and with your download.
Get the DIY felt first birthday crown template
This is a premium download, available in my Etsy shop. Your purchase helps keep this blog alive and the tutorials coming.
It includes templates for both crowns (big and small) in PDF and SVG format for hand or machine cutting. I hand cut mine.
It includes a few styles of number one. If you want other numbers, you can type your desired number in the size you’d like it. Same if you want a different style.
How to Assemble your DIY felt first birthday crown
You’ll need
- Felt: 2 sheets of an outside and inside color for the large crown, or one sheet if you’re making the small one.
- Good fabric scissors and detail scissors (or Cricut Maker with rotary blade)
- Washable fabric marker (if hand cutting)
- Felt Pom Poms
- Hot glue gun (note: even if you’re sewing, the hot glue gun is good for securing your layers together and stiffening up the felt to stand up.)
- Optional: sewing machine with thread
- For the birthday hat style: 1/4 inch flat elastic
- The template or SVG
Process
Full Head Crown
1. Cut out your main crown template, and choose the number style you want. Cut that out too.
2. Trace the crown. If cutting the number from the outer layer, trace it where you want it as well. You’ll want to use the clean side for your outside, so flip the number upside down and reverse it.
3. Cut out your two outer crown parts and the number.
4. Note: this was photographed on an earlier version of the template. The final template shows you to cut the edges down for your lining. You can choose to cut your crown lining in advance from the template, or do it like I did it here: glue it down and then cut.
Place your main crown over the lining felt, so that it sticks out a bit over the edges (trim your felt if needed)
5. Glue your inside and outside layers together. First, glue around the perimeter of the number so that it sticks nicely.
6. Glue each of the crown spokes, filling the inside with glue to stiffen it up a bit.
7. Now cut the lining layer around the perimeter of the crown.
8. Place crown wrong sides together. Measure baby’s head to see how large you want it and mark where you need to sew accordingly.
9. Sew (or glue) along the right and left edges. Trim off any excess to make the crown more comfortable for baby. Flip inside out, glue pom poms to the tips, and your crown is ready to wear!
Mini (Birthday Hat) Crown
1. Cut your main crown. Glue it to the lining color, but only use a thin line of glue in the center of each spoke to reinforce it.
2. Cut around the edge of the crown to cut out your lining. For this one, I cut out the one from the lining color separately and glued it on. If you have a free motion foot, you may be able to sew it a bit more easily. Or, you can hand sew it with embroidery floss and a decorative running stitch.
3. Sew along the top and bottom edges of the crown. TIP: if you’d like, you can first pin the elastic in place between the layers to incorporate it more seamlessly. Do this on each side 1/4 from the right and left minus that extra flap of seam allowance.
4. Fold your crown in half, right sides together. Sew the two sides together. Trim the seam. Glue on your elastic (if you didn’t sandwich it between the layers) and glue on pom poms to finish it off.
Your DIY felt first birthday crown is complete! In case you missed it, you can get the template here.
