Thursdays in Advent 2025 are for upcycled projects

We’re starting off with a bang (or a crack?) with these DIY holiday crowns. While we love the little paper crowns that come with Christmas and New Year’s crackers, we thought it might be even more fun to sew crowns we could use throughout the season (and the next one, and the next). Last month, I made a few prototypes and a free printable pattern. And today, we’ll be sewing crowns for the rest of the family. Instead of shopping for fabric, we’ll be shopping our “stash” of sewing remnants, old clothes, and linens to repurpose. Use the same fabric for the front and back of the crown, or use contrast fabric to make this crown reversible!

Here’s the DIY

Print Recipe

DIY Festive Crowns

Equipment

Scissors
SSJ Festive Crown Pattern,* printed twice [see link for the pdf pattern in notes]
Sewing Machine
Iron
Pins
Point turner, chopstick, or eraser end of a pencil
Fabric-safe glue stick [optional, but recommended if using batting]

Ingredients

2 7×22 inch Pieces of fabric
1 7×22 inch Piece of iron-on interfacing OR quilt batting/flannel
Coordinating thread
1 36-inch Length of 1.5-in wide** ribbon
OR
1 5-inch Length of 1.5-in wide** elastic [see notes]

Instructions

Print two copies of the pattern at 100% scale.
Cut the first copy of the pattern out along the solid lines. And cut the second copy of the pattern out along the dotted seam lines.
Fold each piece of fabric in half to make a 7×11 inch rectangle. Pin the first copy of the pattern down along the fold, and cut each crown piece out.
Mark the notches on the sides of the crown pieces with a tiny snip, pins, or pencil/chalk.
Fold the piece of interfacing or batting in half to make a 7×11 inch rectangle. Pin the second copy of the pattern down along the fold, and cut the piece out.
For Interfaced Crowns: Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric designated to be the "front" of the crown, leaving 1/4-inch of the wrong side of the crown fabric visible around the top and bottom edges and 1/2-inch visible from the sides
OR
For Batting Crowns: Use a glue stick to tack the batting down to the wrong side of the fabric designated to be the "back" of the crown, leaving 1/4-inch of the wrong side of the crown fabric visible around the top and bottom edges and 1/2-inch visible on the sides. You might also choose to tack the batting down a bit with a few basting stitches which can be removed later, or simply quilt the batting onto that piece of the crown.
Press the wrong sides of the fabric together a 1/4-inch along the long bottom edge of both fabric crown pieces to mark the bottom of your crown.
For Ribbon Closures: Cut the ribbon into two equal pieces. On the right side of the piece of fabric you've designated to be the "front" of the crown, lay each piece of ribbon over the notches marked on the short sides. Lay them so that the ribbon edge is aligned with the edge of the crown while the length of the ribbon extends across the inside of the crown. Then, sew each ribbon in place, 1/4 inch away from the edge.
OR
For Elastic Closures: On the right side of the piece of fabric you've designated to be the "front" of the crown, lay the piece of elastic over the notches marked on ONE short sides [I used the left side in the photo]. Lay it so that the elastic's short edge is aligned with the short edge of the crown while the length of the elastic extends onto the inside of the crown. Then, sew the elastic in place on that one side only, 1/4-inch away from the edge.
Place the crown pieces right sides together, hiding the ribbons/elastic inside the crown, while making sure they won't be caught in any seams.
Using a 1/2-inch seam allowance, starting at the lower part of one short side of the crown, sew up the short side of the crown. If using elastic, make sure to start on the side with the elastic!
Switch to a 1/4-inch seam allowance to sew across the top of the crown. Keep the machine's needle down when turning the sharp corners.
Switch back to a 1/2-inch seam allowance, and, starting at the top part of the opposite short side of the crown, begin to sew down that side.
For Ribbon: Sew this second short side from top to bottom.
OR
For Elastic: Stop at the top notch, backstitch, and cut your thread. Then, skip down to the lower notch, backstitch again, and sew from the lower notch to the bottom of the crown.
For Elastic: Press that second side seam allowance open, towards the inside of the crown.
Clip all of the corners of your sewn edges or use pinking shears to trim them.
Turn the crown right-side out using a specialized point-turner, a chopstick, or the eraser-side of a pencil to make sure the points of the crown are stiff.
Press the crown, making sure that the quarter-inch seam allowance at the bottom of the crown is ironed in. Pin or clip the bottom closed if necessary.
For Elastic: Make sure the side with the opening for the elastic is also pressed so that the seam allowance is ironed in.
Top stitch across the bottom of the crown about 1/4 inch from the folded edges of the fabric or hand-sew an invisible seam.
For Elastic: After measuring the crown around the wearer's head to guarantee a comfortable fit, insert the free end of the elastic into the nicely ironed opening you left in the side of the crown and top stitch across the opening.
Congrats, you've made a crown!

Notes

* SSJ DIY FESTIVE CROWN PATTERN: This pattern has very narrow margins. Please be sure to print it at 100%. If you’re using Adobe to open the PDF, you might have to click the “page settings” button at the bottom left of your print screen and choose your specific printer from the list of availble ones before printing at 100%.

**[1 inch wide is fine for either ribbon or elastic. Just note that the notches in the pattern are marked for 1.5-in widths]

SSJ Festive Crown Pattern

[This pattern has very narrow margins. Please be sure to print it at 100%. If you’re using Adobe to open the PDF, you might have to click the “page settings” button at the bottom left of your print screen and choose your specific printer from the list of available options in order to print the bottom of the page correctly at 100% scale.]