Wool Birthday Crown WIP

I thought when my own kids were babies I had made them everything possible. Gosh, one time I obsessively built them a canvas playhouse on a frame of pvc pipe that had an operational door, painted English garden on the outside, and would fit adults standing up. It was brilliant that I could put it up and take it down for storage when needed. The pipe got pilfered over the years, and I think the only thing remaining on the toy shelf is the door. Oh, life before an iPhone lives only in our minds. 

But my granddaughter's first birthday is rolling around, and my daughter mentioned I should look for a birthday crown while at a fiber festival. I obliged, but no crowns were to be found. I'd never heard of such a thing, but it is a thing now as playhouses were years ago. And like so many of you, I said, "I can make that." So I began at Pinterest, gathered ideas, then adjusted for time. I have a quilt I would like to complete before said birthday, too, so I have a time crunch. 

Over the summer I was gifted a large amount of wool passed down generationally in another family, but at a dead end. So I benefitted from a wide variety of both new and repurposed pieces of wool. Some of it is stored near my studio, but a few totes landed in my sewing room. I started the project with the idea of experimenting on a prototype. That turned out to be a good piece, and so much for a lot of foresight and planning. This project just fell into place.

Throwing down materials is part of the organic process for me.

I started by drawing half a crown on paper. Why half? Half always gives you an exact mirror image. Then I ironed Flexi Fuse to small pieces of leftover wool and pieces I had bought to start penny rugs. 

Maybe a needle felted rabbit or hedgehog? Nice, but I lacked the needles. So I started with the number 1.

My Accuquilt cutter was on the floor, and I cut small flowers on it, and leaves by hand to lay on the crown. The circle cut from another die offset the 1.

I buttonhole stitched the circle.

The Flexi Fuse did not hold as well as I had hoped so I added French knots and "X's" to secure pieces. I used the full 6 strands of regular embroidery thread to secure the little pieces.

Today I'll finish (ahead of schedule, mind you) with a cotton lining so it's not itchy, padded fusible interfacing, and a way to hold it together. This grandma thing is widening my repertoire. I may even get the birthday quilt done at this rate. 

Come on, Doxie girls.

Let's go sew.