26 January 2012

Make a Unicorn Horn Flower Crown

Because who should have to decide between a flower crown and a unicorn horn? Kaia really wanted to wear both for her Birthday, and this is what I ended up with. 


When she first told me she wanted to be a unicorn for her Birthday party, I started poking around the Web, trying to figure something out. I was really disappointed with what I found. I didn't want her to be encumbered by a big, hot, bulky costume for her indoor party. I wanted something she could don on her own when she wanted to play. I didn't want a modeling clay horn held on with an "invisible" elastic band. These just don't seem practical to me for a young child. I wanted a horn that would go on easily and comfortably, one that was lightweight, was not fragile, and would stay in place well on her head while she cantered around the house wildly, rearing and jumping. Because you know that is what is going to happen when you place a unicorn horn on a 4 year old. (Omygosh, she's almost four!) I think I actually achieved all of these standards I set myself, and I am really happy with how the whole thing came together, (and so is she!)

When I made the horn, I was thinking I would experiment a bit, start figuring things out. I didn't expect to be happy with the first thing I twiddled with, so I'm stuck without any pictures. I made a paper model in order to do this tutorial. Not the prettiest pictures, but hopefully they at least make the process easy to see.

You will need:
  • Craft Felt in Various Colours
  • Stuffing
  • Sewing Thread and Needle
  • Extra Strong Quilting Thread
  • Small Length of Elastic
  • Headband
  • Hot glue
  • Scissors
  • Plastic Gems
  • Fabric Leaves (Or Make Felt Leaves)
 I used sparkly white craft felt for her horn. Aside from the fact that it is, obviously, sparkly, the sparkle felt is quite a bit stiffer. Cut out a skinny triangle and fold it in half lengthwise, right sides together. Sew up the open long side, marked with sharpy in the following pictures. Leave the bottom open. (That triangle was supposed to be relatively symmetrical. The real thing was, I swear. Pretend that it is relatively symmetrical, okay? Thanks.)


Trim off excess fabric, and turn right-side-out. Using extra strong quilting thread, cut a long piece, (enough to wrap your spirals,) and knot off the end. Make it a good, big knot, you don't want it to pull through the felt once there is tension on it. Run the thread out near the tip of the horn from inside. (Not at the tip.) Pull it all the way through, so that knot is the only part left inside. Stuff the horn as tightly as you can, I used polyfill stuffing. Trim the bottom to even it out if necessary.


Begin wrapping the thread down the horn in a spiral, tightly enough to leave a good indent. This will give your horn a nice spiraled shape, and keep the thread from slipping and sliding around on the horn. (This was the part I was most unsure about. I worried that the fabric would bunch, or that the thread would not be strong enough to pull tightly, or that it would not stay in place. None of those fears came to light, it worked very well.) Tie your thread off inside, near the bottom of the horn. Place your horn on another piece of matching felt, trace the bottom circle, and cut it out. 


Starting from the inside, wrap stitches around the edges of your felt, sewing the circle to the bottom of the horn, and tie it off. Try to hide your knot inside, or at least away from the edge.


I attached it to a nice, wide, cloth-covered headband that we found at a dollar store. To do so, measure a piece of elastic around the center of the headband to get your length, then make it a bit smaller so that it will stretch snugly into place. Sew the elastic ends together to form a loop. Stitch the elastic to the bottom of the horn. Take care to sew the elastic all the way to the edges of the horn, or the base will pull up at the front and back. Also make sure that the seam holding the elastic together gets sewn to the horn, this way it will end up on top of the headband, instead of as an uncomfortable lump against your child's head.


Your unicorn horn is complete! Like magic, the paper horn suddenly transforms into a real one! Oh, wait... *ehem* Anyway, once on the headband, I added a little hot glue under the edges of the horn to help keep it from wobbling any. I think this would be remedied by using a wider elastic band than what I happened to have on hand, though.


 Hot glue the fabric leaves down either side of the headband, overlapping a little and alternating direction. Cut a variety of flowers out of the coloured felt. (Tip: Your husband may get slightly irritable if you attempt to do this in bed, stick to reading a book.) I honestly think layering has the biggest impact on how nice they come out looking. I used hot glue to fix the layers together. I've no idea how well hot glue works on wool felt, but it works amazingly on eco felt. I believe the heat actually fuses the layers together to an extent. For the large yellow flower, I simply cut a bunch of strips of felt, folded them in half, then tacked them all together by their ends with a little thread.


Hot glue the flowers all over the headband, then hot glue the plastic gems to the centers. Make sure to overlap the base of the horn a bit and cover up the elastic band. You are the proud new owner of a unicorn horn flower crown!


I had a very hard time keeping her still long enough to take any pictures...




Her rainbow unicorn tail is now complete, too, and I have a full blown unicorn galloping around the house all day. Find that tutorial here. By the way, it would be really easy to stick a couple ears in there amid the flowers. According to Kaia, however, she already has two ears and didn't want any more. (Don't look at me... she wears plenty of other animal ears, my logic does not often have much effect on her, however.)

36 comments:

  1. Your Unicorn flower crown is wonderful!! I love the way the felt worked up, I haven't worked with eco felt before, or glitter felt, sounds like fun I will have to give it a try. :)

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  2. That is simply adorable! My daughter is big time into unicorns and I think I'll have to make this for her birthday in April. Thanks for sharing how to make it!

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  3. What a wonderful idea. I know I would have loved it when I was little. I would love it if you would share at our Sharing Saturday link party tomorrow at http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com. Thank you!

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  4. Thanks, guys! It has certainly been a hit here, I am obviously going to need to make a second one very soon.

    I would *love* to see yours if you make one, Sunshine Mama!

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  5. Awwww, most beautiful unicorn I ever saw. You did an amazing job, love it!

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  6. Wow, the unicorn horn ROCKS and THEN I SAW THE RAINBOW TAIL.
    Love it!

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  7. Thank you! My nearly-four-year-old is *loving* them, it's great!

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  8. Yup, this is pretty great! My 3 year old daughter is very into unicorns now, too. Her birthday isn't til July though, so I have lots of time to prepare. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
    xo Jules

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  9. If you make it and put any pictures up, I would so love if you could send me a link to see it. :)

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  10. My! How cute is this!! Will definitely be pinning this. Adorable!

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  11. Thank you so much for posting your instructions! I am in the process of making a My Little Pony hoodie with a unicorn horn, and I had been struggling to find an online tutorial for how to sew a unicorn horn which included written instructions. The videos on YouTube just don't cut it for me. I followed your instructions almost to a "t" (since I'm sewing the horn onto a sweatshirt and not a headband, I had to do a little improvising at the end), and the horn came out looking great. :)

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  12. My daughter wanted to be "The Magic Unicorn" for book character day at school, with very little notice, of course. This was a perfect solution. I subsituted silk flowers for the felt flowers since I was in a time crunch, but it came out great! Thanks so much.

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  13. Unicorn Headband is just wonderful! You really made it special for a special little girl!

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  14. Thanks for the horn tutorial. I want to make my 3 1/2 years old daughter a unicorn costume for Halloween and this is the detail I was wondering how to make.

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  15. Thank you, everyone! So glad that my tutorial is helpful to others. :)

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  16. I just googled "make a unicorn horn" as my daughter wants to go as the unicorn Willow from her favourite book to school's Book Week Dress Up day, and was amazed to see that both our little girls are called Kaia!!! You don't see many around. It was meant to be. I just love your horn and am about to look at the tail. Thankyou.

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  17. What fun! I remember my mom made me a unicorn costume when I was a child...can't wait to make a special headband for my daughter.

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  18. I'm having a lot of trouble turning the glitter felt inside out. Any tips?

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  19. Sorry my response is so late, and probably not any help by now, but I used a chopstick to turn mine right side out. I don't recall having any issues with that, I wonder if you've found a thicker, or stiffer, glitter felt than I was using?

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  20. <3 this Tutorial! I used a pencil (eraser end) to turn mine out so not to damage the felt. Used a snap clip instead of the headband, too. Super perfect! My daughter LOVEs it!

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  21. Hello!

    I love this so much that I featured it on my blog - I hope you don't mind?

    You can see the post here: http://www.matinlapin.com/2012/11/my-favourite-things-this-week-55.html

    Vixie

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  22. The eraser end of a pencil is a great idea, too. I usually use a chopstick because I have an easier time getting little points like that turned all the way out with the smaller end of a chopstick, but whatever works!

    Vixie, Don't mind at all, and thank you!

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  23. I was desperately looking on the net how to make a unicorn horn. My littlest daughter wanted so much to be a unicorn at the carnival party at school.
    As I am in France, I first looked in french and found nothing. But in english, I discovered your blog ... and it is just wonderfull!

    I just love this crown. I used the horn tutorial and it was just perfect! Perfectly explained...

    I used the horn tutorial to make our horn. I did put a link on my blog to this tutorial. As soon as I finish, I'll put a picture of it also on the blog.

    THANK YOU very much!

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  24. Eli, I am so glad my tutorial could help you and was clear! I was in the same boat, I could not find anything online that fit with what we wanted to do. I was so pleased that my little experiment worked out. I can't wait to see the finished pictures of your costume, the whole costume sounds like quite the undertaking!

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  25. I've been hunting around to find some inspiring ideas on how to make a unicorn horn for my miniature pony. Thanks, I love this idea, it't going to look gorgeous (with a couple of adaptations for a pony's head). I do unicorn pony parties in Melbourne, Australia, so I think I will be referring mums to your blog for unicorn head band and tail ideas for kids parties. If you want to check out our unicorn pony parties - have a quick look here www.balloonaversal.com.au/pony-parties

    Thanks for your wonderful ideas

    Cheers

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  26. Thank you. my sons love to play dress up as pandas, dragons, firefighters.....the list goes on. I will have to be adding a unicorn horn and ears to the mix. the headband will be a perfect way for them to put it on and take it off on their own! Cheers.

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  27. Hi,
    I love your unicorn horn. Can you tell me where you got the tail or if you made it, how you made it?
    Thanks!
    April

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  28. April she has a blog for the making of the tail too

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  29. Thanks! Here's mine: http://jesscarleton.blogspot.com/2014/05/bay-top.html

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  30. um how did you get the felt on the horn i need to become a unicorn for halloween and times running out i still have to do my tail....

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  31. um how did you get the felt on the horn i need to become a unicorn for halloween and times running out i still have to do my tail....

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