If you’re looking for a great craft project to satisfy the little princess in your life (or the princess in your heart), try these DIY princess crowns. We use craft glue or Mod Podge, starch, and any combination of new or vintage lace to bring all your sparkly dreams to life.
We made lace princess crowns for a number of birthday parties when the girls were itty bitty. There was the princess party where all the party guests selected from homemade princess crowns. And the little girls donned princess tiaras once again at our Princess and the Popstar birthday party.
These DIY crowns are fun to make because you can really customize them with different sizes and shapes of lace, as well as paint and glitter! Let’s get to learning how to make a princess crown!
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👑 DIY Crown Supplies:
- lace – We have used a variety of laces – from vintage cotton lace to crisp, new synthetic lace. There are so many shapes and sizes. Synthetic laces seem to hold their intricate detail/shape better than the soft cotton laces, such as the vintage trims I used in the past. Look for wider designs with a lot of variation in the trim for taller crowns.
- starch – liquid fabric starch is applied to the lace and left to dry to hold it stiffly in place. We used liquid fabric stiffener. You may be able to use spray starch, but it will be much more difficult to really saturate the lace.
- paint – Acrylic paints work well and come in such a wide variety of colors. Spray paint -especially for metallic colors like gold and silver – are quick and cover well.
- glitter – Adding glitter to the crowns was my girls’ favorite part of the craft. I think that a fine glitter in a coordinating color (to the paint) looks best. Coarse glitter can also take up the bling factor. If you have more delicate, detailed lace, you’ll probably want a fine glitter.
- Mod Podge or glue – If you are adding glitter to the crowns, a nice coat of Mod Podge to seal everything in works wonders. It will also add a bit more structure and stiffness to the crowns.
- hot glue – a quick dab of hot glue joins the two ends of the lace into a perfect crown. You could also hand stitch them together, I suppose.
Optional Supplies:
You might also want a tapered food container – like a yogurt tub or a takeout container to place the crown on while stiffening. This will keep the crown perfectly round and can also give the tips of the crown a little flare.
Substitutions and Variations
- Color cotton laces with fabric dye instead of using craft paint. Please note that synthetic lace will not dye.
- Add craft jewels to the center or to the peaks of the crowns for extra sparkle.
✂️ Instructions:
PREP: Cover work area with parchment or waxed paper.
Step 1: Cut each lace piece to 15 inches long.
Step 2: Saturate the trim in fabric stiffener, swipe off excess with your fingers, lay the lace flat to dry in a straight line on waxed paper. Turn several times to ensure all of the holes in the lace are clear of excess stiffener.
Step 3: When the lace is fully dry and stiff, paint each side. Again, take care that the cutouts in the lace do not get filled with paint. Paint one side, allow it to dry, and then paint the other side.
Step 4: Apply a thin coat of mod podge or thinned craft glue to the painted lace and shake with a coordinating color of glitter. Lift up the lace and tap off the excess glitter. Lay flat to dry.
Synthetic laces are easier to stiffen while maintaining the design. When cotton lace is moistened by the stiffener, you have to reshape it. It’s possible, but takes a bit more effort.
Step 6: Apply a final coat of Mod Podge over the glittered crown. Add a dab of hot glue along one edge, overlap the ends, and glue into place. Set the crown upside down on an overturned tapered container and allow the Mod Podge to dry completely. This ensures a perfectly round crown and it adds a little shape to the crown – the base is narrower than the tips.
Princess Crown Tutorial Tips
- Work on a warmer day and use the sunshine and dry air to move through the project more quickly. Humidity and cooler temperatures simply mean that each step of the project will take a bit longer. It is important to completely dry out the lace between each step.
- We use bobby pins to secure the DIY crowns in the hair or on top of the head. You can also try hot gluing a little comb onto the inside of the crown to attach to the hair.
- We liked super fine glitter the best – Martha Stewart craft glitter was our favorite for this project.
- If you apply the final coat of Mod Podge to seal in the glitter, be sure to leave the very ends of the lace dry so that it doesn’t prevent the hot glue from sticking as you form the lace into a crown shape.
If you made this DIY Princess Crown or any other craft project on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
DIY Princess Crowns
Materials
- 15 inch synthetic or fabric lace
- ½ cup fabric stiffener
- 2 tablespoons acrylic paint
- ½ cup Mod Podge
- glitter fine grain
Instructions
- Cut lace into 15" lengths.
- Saturate the lace in fabric stiffener, working it into the lace with your fingers.
- Spread the lace out flat on a sheet of parchment or waxed paper and allow to dry completely.
- Paint one side of the stiffened lace at a time with paint. Allow to dry completely.
- Add a thin coat of Mod Podge and sprinkle glitter over the lace. Shake off excess glitter.
- Allow to dry.
- Seal the glitter with another coat of Mod Podge. Before it dries, apply a bead of hot glue to one end of the lace and join it to the other end to form a circle.
- Place crown upside down onto a tapered column and allow to dry. You want the base of the crown to rest on the narrower part of the column so that the tips of the crown flare out slightly when dried.
- Use bobby pins or affix hair combs to the crown to place in hair.
Notes
- Work on a warmer day and use the sunshine and dry air to move through the project more quickly. Humidity and cooler temperatures simply mean that each step of the project will take a bit longer. It is important to completely dry out the lace between each step.
- We use bobby pins to secure the DIY crowns in the hair or on top of the head. You can also try hot gluing a little comb onto the inside of the crown to attach to the hair.
- We liked super fine glitter the best – Martha Stewart craft glitter was our favorite for this project.
- If you apply the final coat of Mod Podge to seal in the glitter, be sure to leave the very ends of the lace dry so that it doesn’t prevent the hot glue from sticking.
- Synthetic laces hold their shape better when saturated with the fabric stiffener.
Comments & Reviews
Lauren says
Do you think girls could decorate the crowns? Would adhesive gems stick on them?
Stefanie says
I think you could have the girls do the glitter part of the making the crowns. I don’t think adhesive gems would stick on the glitter, the adhesive is just not strong enough. Hot glue would work well, but, depending on the age of the girls, that might not be an option. Elmer’s glue would probably work, but would take a while to dry and be messier. E6000 would work well, though I don’t think I’d let younger girls use E6000 either.
Deb says
thanks for the great instructions. these will be a big hit!
Golnoush Cookson says
i’m trying this today wish me luck!
Noel says
Awesome! Would you happen to know if the fabric stiffener worked on yarn? Thinking of crocheting crowns and working them he same way. Thx!
girlinspired says
I haven’t had a lot of luck with fabric stiffener and yarn, but I only tried it once on single strands (not crocheted) that I was trying to turn into a spider web. hee hee! It worked ok, but looked flaky.
DavidMiller says
How gorgeous!
Betsy says
Wow, so pretty and so clever! Can’t wait to make these for my nieces at our next tea party.
Sue - SchoolLabels.com says
What a fabulous idea for tiaras. My little girl will love them. The more glitter the better, she loves the sparkly stuff. Thanks
lorelei says
Quick question…..which modge podge do you use…..went to michaels, and didnt’ realize there were like 50 different types, I personally have never used it before.
girlinspired says
There ARE a lot of Mod Podge types! I just use the regular matte Mod Podge – I think it comes with a yellow label. There might be one for fabric that you could try, too!
Tram says
This is so pretty, I cant wait to have a daughter so I can dress her up xx =)
barbara macaskill says
You can also place the lace on cooling racks to dry. That way the air gets to all sides at the same time. LOVELOVELOVE these gorgeous crowns and will be making some for my little niece and granddaughter!! TFS!
Amy N says
Hi!
Love this idea and made one today! I have one question for you. How did you pin in your daughter’s hair. Did you just use a few bobby pins or did you glue the crown on some felt and attach to an alligator clip? Thanks for your help!
girlinspired says
Hi Amy – I just used bobby pins, but it would be cool to try hot gluing to some combs or something. Some of the laces have larger holes that are easier to bobby pin to. Let me know how it works if you attach it to some other sort of clip!
Latia says
Love these! Will be doing them for my daughters birthday party. I just need to know where I can buy the lace?
Dani says
I bet GirleGlue would hold these on their little heads to great! Thanks for the beautiful idea.
traci hughes says
Hello – I have a silly question… Did you use colored glitter to coordinate with each crown or the clear type of glitter? I am going to make these for my 4 & 6 year olds and they requested different colored crowns (if course =). I have clear glitter but not silver and gold. Do you think it would make a difference??
Thanks for your help!
Traci =)
girlinspired says
Hi Traci! That’s a good question. I recently did a follow-up post where I talked a little more about the glitter – it’s here: https://thegirlinspired.com/2013/07/princess-crowns-tutorial/ I did try to match the glitter to the paint color, but more importantly, the size of the glitter flecks really make a big difference on the crowns – the really super fine glitter looks a lot better, in my opinion. That said, your little girls are going to love those crowns no matter what size or color glitter you have, so if you’re not inclined to go shopping, know that they are going to turn out great anyway!!
traci hughes says
THANK YOU!!!