A St Lucy Crown Tutorial

We began celebrating St Lucy's Day about four or five years ago when Cowgirl and I first read the American Girl Kirsten series, which is about a Swedish American Girl on the plains.  Since, I thought this would be a one time event, I made a simple crown out of a fake evergreen wreath that I had and a pack of battery operated votive candles that I picked up at the dollar store.  It was cute enough but nothing special. Once, St Lucy's Day became a fixture, I began to wish I could buy one of the beautiful metal crowns from Sweden. Alas, they were always more than I could afford and although I promised myself every year that I would save money and buy it next year, it never happened. Fast forward to this year when Cowgirl is now over a foot taller than the first year and I began to realize that the years of her serving us coffee and buns all dressed up are rapidly dwindling. Add to that, the little dress up robe I bought for $5 is now at least four sizes too small. I knew something had to be done, but I still couldn't afford what I was seeing online.

I found a beautiful white nightgown on eBay for $15 with plenty of room to grow.  Then I turned my attention to the crown. I returned to Dollar Tree and found just what I was looking for. Here is a tutorial for the crown I made that cost only $5, not counting the ribbon I already had. I purchased a package of artificial pine garland, two 2-packs of battery operated tapers, a sprig of berries, and floral wire (not pictured). We also used two inch wide red ribbon, about a foot of curling ribbon, and a glue gun.

First, I measured the garland around Cowgirl's head making sure to leave a little space for growth. I then wound the rest of the garland around my "head mold."  I secured the new wreath with two pieces of curling ribbon approximately six inches long each. I tied each tightly, then clipped the tails of the knot.

Then came adding the candles.  I took one candle and pushing up from the bottom pulled it between the "branches" of pine until the bottom of the brass holder was flush with the bottom of the wreath.

To secure the candles, I cut a sixteen inch piece of floral wire. Now, this part was difficult to photograph, so bear with me as I attempt to explain. I took the first six inches of the wire and wove it over and under a few branches to the right of the candle. I then pulled this piece around the back of the candle and had it meet the long section of wire in front of the candle. I then twisted the short end onto the long end to resemble the neck of a wire hanger.

After that, I threaded the wire through three branches to the left of the candle and finally, wound the remaining wire tightly around the brass base of the candle until all was used up.  I then put a small amount of hot glue around each of the bases to add security.

The hardest part was over and it took less than twenty minutes. Cowgirl then cut the lingonberries off the stem. (Disclaimer: My entire knowledge of lingpnberries consists of the facts that they make good jam and grow in Sweden. These may look nothing like a lingonberry should, but they cost a dollar, close enough.)  We arranged the berries around the wreath, then secured each with a little more hot glue.

Cowgirl had a little bit of holly  left over from making her clips, and decoded to add it to the wreath. We glue one piece to the base of each candle.

The last part to make was the bow. For those of you who do not know how to make your own bows, here is a tutorial to check out.  I first cut a five foot length of ribbon that we folded in half and attached to the back of the wreath for the tails.

Then I wrapped a DVD case seven times and made the large bow, this brought back so many memories of crafting with my mom who had taught me how to make bow many years ago. I attached the bow via floral wire, then reinforced with hot glue.

Voila, a St Lucy Day crown. We were both happy with how it turned out.  I will be posting more about our plans later this week. God bless.

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