Freebie Friday – Crochet Mermaid Crown

So I don’t have an actual pattern for this crown but I’m free-ly sharing my process and ideas for the crown and am still (loosely) considering this a freebie.

Yesterday, I shared some beautiful crowns from the web and my bright idea to make one of my own for Ren Faire. I had plenty of yarn, a bag full of shells and vague ideas waiting to get out.  I was planning to wear my mermaid outfit made out of crocodile stitches. I guess I should have tried on my outfit first, before I started the crown. As usual, I jumped in feet first, got the crochet part of the crown done, and then tired on the outfit. After all, it should fit, right? Why wouldn’t it? Maybe because I put on a little weight? Well, it fit, but I wasn’t so sure I looked good in it anymore. Oh well. I had started the crown and I was still going to finish it. I can wear it even if I don’t wear my mermaid costume, which I haven’t completely ruled out yet.

Strategy

To begin, I needed to make a crochet crown to act as a canvas for my creation. After I did that, I stared at all my shells and looked in my jewelry drawers for sparklies I could use. I pulled out all my beads and buttons and stared at those, too.

Below is my first attempt at adorning my crown. I had small, pearly beads I liked. I added them after and not during the crocheting. I sewed them on, nestled in the picots. I also added a zircon I had. I added the pointy conch-shells by making two rows of single crochet and sewing it onto the back of the picots with little pockets for the shells. They kept falling out but once on my head, they stay put.

It’s getting there.

I like it but it needs more.

At this point, it didn’t clearly look like a mermaid crown. Back to the drawing board, or in my case, the mess on my desk full of inspiration. I took the zircon out, it was pretty but didn’t seem to go with the theme.

I became a mad creator, busting up bracelets to pilfer the beads, all the while, hoping it was worth destroying a pretty bracelet.

Now we’re talking! It all follows the theme.

The big pearls had big holes and I was able to run a strand of yarn with an embroidery needle through all of them. I had a pretty silver charm with a fresh-water pearl in the center (that I never wear so was willing to sacrifice it for the crown) and placed it in the center. It was all looking good but I wanted to use some actual shells, but as of yet, I haven’t figured out how to make them permanent. The ones in the picture are loose but I really like how they look, so I’m determined to find a way to make them stay. I’m thinking it’s time for the hot glue gun but I’m not sure it will work.

What do you think? Should I lose the three shells or go through the trouble of trying to hot-glue them? Hmmm….we’ll see.

How I made the crochet part of the crown

I used two strands of medium acrylic yarn. Round one and two were mixed colors and the third round was one color. The third round was a partial round.

The first round was made up of double crochets.

The next round was a double crochet, chain 1, skip a stitch, double crochet, chain 1, skip a stitch, all the way around.

The third round had a single crochet in the chain space of the previous round, a single crochet in the top of the double crochet of the previous row, a picot (chain 3, single crochet at base of chain), repeat that pattern until there 9 picots. I ended with a single crochet in a chain space and slip stitched to fasten off.