I had a lot of people ask where I got Emsley’s floral lace crown from that she wore at her first birthday party. Originally I was going to buy one through Etsy, but when the Canada Post strike occurred and impacted shipping to Canada I decided to get crafty and make my own. I’m so happy I did as it was surprisingly quite easy and fun to do!

Materials needed:

• Lace ribbon
• Mesauring Tape
• Scissors
• Fabric Stiffener
• Paint Brush or Paint Sponge
• Fabric Paint
• Hot Glue Gun
• Fake Flowers
• Elastic or Headband

First off, start by measuring and cutting the amount of lace ribbon you need to make the right size crown for your child. My little girl was one year old so I made a crown that was between 3.25-3.5 inches in diameter. Make sure to leave enough extra lace ribbon on each end so you can overlap the ends and glue them together to create a circle. I left about a half inch extra on either end, for a total of one inch.

Once you have the lace ribbon cut, lay it on wax paper or any other surface that you can easily discard. Apply the fabric stiffener with a paint brush or paint sponge to the lace ribbon. I purchased this large bottle of stiffener from Walmart Canada for about ten dollars Canadian. Make sure you turn over your lace ribbon once you have fully brushed one side, and apply the stiffener generously to the second side. Be careful not to overdo the stiffener to the point that it causes the lace holes to fill up and pool with liquid. If you see that happening, remove any excess liquid with your paint brush or dab with a paper towel. Allow the lace to lay flat to dry. About half way through, flip the lace over to ensure both sides are completely dry. I found that it was dry to touch in about 24 hours.

Once you’ve let the lace ribbon completely dry, apply whatever colour fabric paint you want to the ribbon. I like to work with Martha Stewart brand multi-surface paints. I find them easy to use and a better bang for my buck, as I can use them on multiple surfaces. Again, be sure to turn the lace over and apply the paint generously to the other side. Ensuring once again that the lace holes have not pooled with excess paint.

Allow the paint to dry completely. You might notice it be dry to touch in about a day, but I found that after about 2-3 days the lace became even stiffer which was ideal for this project and worth waiting for.

Once the paint has completely dried and the lace ribbon feels adequately stiffened, overlap the two ends of the lace ribbon the amount extra you had left (about a half inch on either side) and use your hot glue gun to glue them together. Allow that to fully dry. Now that you have a circle and it should be resembling a crown, you can add the decorative touches. I purchased small white flowers from Michaels Canada to put on my daughter’s crown. I purposely picked ones that were about a half an inch in size so they would fit nicely on the crown without covering all the lace on the front of it. Depending on the width of lace you purchased, (mine was about 1.5 inches tall), you can adjust the size of your flowers. I then pulled the flowers off the stems and hot glued 5 of them to the front side of the crown, using the holes in the lace as spots to place my flowers.

Once the flowers fully dried, I measured the elastic needed to fit my child’s head. I cut it appropriately and glued each end of the elastic to approximately half way between the centre flower to the point where the lace overlaps, on either side of the crown. Just like a bow headband would sit on your child’s head, you want the elastic of the crown to also sit behind your child’s ears. You can use elastic from a fabric store or a headband from a bow. I chose white elastic to match the white flowers I used, however a nude nylon headband would also have worked nicely.

The end result made for a pretty cute birthday crown fit for our one year old little princess! See more pictures of the crown from her teepee birthday photoshoot here and her cake smash photos here.