DIY Aussie Christmas Crown!

A Spoonflower/Ellie Whittaker/TopKnot Girl Collaboration!

 

It's ALMOST Christmas, and that means decking the halls, trimming the tree, cracking out the summer clothes (in Australia that is!) and getting the BBQ fired up for those prawns!

It's not really Christmas without a few, fun craft projects and DIY novelties. 

If you're keen to get into the Aussie Christmas spirit, theres no better way to do it that to whip up a handful of these super fun, kitsch, Aussie Christmas Crowns!

This iconic fabric is designed by Ellie Whittaker, pattern extraordinaire and all round nice girl! This mama of 4 is the one to hang with, thats for sure! Ellie has created this Crown design, and its ready to cut in this pre-formatted design. Each panel contains 6 crowns, plus some additional fabric to get crafty with. Wrap it around bon bons, make a table runner, add it to decorations, gift tags, etc!

Order your panel from Spoonflower, here, (use the code: AUSHoliday17 at checkout for 10% off your whole fabric order! *) and while you await its arrival, read this blog post for the "How-To" instructions to make this fabulous set of Christmas crowns. 

I was lucky enough to test out the Christmas Crowns, and pop together this "How-To" guide for you all to follow!

Before you get started, there are a couple of ways you can make this crown, including a "no sew" option (hightlighted below), the option I've chosen, or a simple "sew right sides together, crimp, turn, press and top stitch" style of approach. Use your creativity and have some fun using the level you're at with the sewing machine and what materials you have on hand.

How-To make your Aussie Christmas Crown!

A step by step guide:

Step 1: Gather and lay out your materials.

You'll need:

Your Aussie Christmas Crown panel

Felt or fabric for backing (I used felt - 100% wool felt. Don't use acrylic, as it'll be itchy on the skin and most likely melt with the iron!)

Ribbon lengths (allow 2 x 12inch pieces, per crown)

Scissors

Pinking shears (zig-zag scissors) and vliesofix (this is a paperback, double sided web adhesive).

Sewing Machine and threads

Step 2: Fix your crown templates to the adhesive.

Cut out your desired amount of Crowns from the fabric panel (keep them together for ease and time), I did 3.

Cut a piece of your vliesofix the same size.

Iron the fabric, right side up, to the paper backed adhesive. Make sure your fabric is over the vliesofix, because if any of it gets on your iron, it'll turn sticky and leave sticky bits on your Crowns!

Step 3: Cut out your Crowns.

Using the outline of each Crown as a guide, cut around them with sharp scissors.

Discard any offcuts.

Keep the paper backing on the crown. Iron over them again, if needed. 

Step 4: Cut the felt pieces, and fix the Crown to the felt.

Cut out the felt, a little bigger than the Crown pieces. I did the super-rough as its going to be trimmed anyway.

Once the felt it cut, peel the paper backing off and position over the felt.

Use a hot iron to iron the Crown panel onto the felt backing.

Step 5: Top-stitch and trim your Crowns.

Use the sewing machine to stitch around the pattern section of the crown. With this method, you won't be needing the white "seam allowance" so stitch close/over the pattern as the white section will be trimmed off (if doing a "no-sew" version, skip the stitching and just cut neatly around the printed section of the design, then move onto step 6).

I used both zig-zag and straight stitches for this. I preferred the zig-zag stitch as a bit of a feature. The kids chose what colour thread they wanted. 

Patiently stitch right around the crown, starting and finishing with a back-stitch to secure your thread.

Cut off the white section of the fabric.

Step 6: Add your ribbon ties.

 

Cut 2 x pieces of ribbon for each Crown, approx 12 inches long each. 

Start by stitching one end of the ribbon to one end of your Crown. Lay the ribbon across the Crown and stitch in place (pic 1).

Flip the ribbon back over, so its hanging off the edge of the crown (pic 2), and top-stitch in place. You can use a straight stitch, or a zig-zag stitch here. I did a white straight stitch. 

Repeat on the other end of your Crown. 

Optional: singe the ends of the ribbon that are loose, with a flame, to avoid it unravelling. 

Step 7: Enjoy your finished Crowns.

Now you can add these to your Christmas table, take some fun photos of your Crowns, and enjoy a little bit of Aussie Christmas!

Don't forget to tag us in your Aussie Christmas Crown images. Tag @topknotgirl_ and @elliewhittaker and use #AussieChristmasCrown so we can see your handiwork! 

 

Thanks for reading along! x Holly + Team TopKnot!

 *10% off expires 11pm Dec 31st 2017.