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.)
