Crown Jewels

When we were doing 'Get In The Picture' a couple of Saturday's ago, I got into conversation with a young Mum. We'd not really met properly before, even though we live in the same road, and her mum is one of my friends. 
She said that her daughter was a Kings in the school Nativity Play and she needed to sort out a costume. I suggested she might like to borrow one of mine  - and agreed to pop round with a few for the child to try on. "Will you want one of the turbans?" I said - "No, they have to have a crown" she replied.

Confession; I loathe the cardboard crowns worn in school plays. They get bent and damaged very quickly, and three years down the line when the Teaching Assistant drags out the costume box, they are often quite bedraggled. And they never quite fit - either springing off the bouncy curls, or slipping down over the ears and eyebrows. I prefer my Magi to have turban type hats.
But a crown was needed - so I made one out of some yellow fabric [left over from Daisy Duck last month] and a long strip of felt. [who wants to spend £15 to buy a crown from the Internet?]

Cut 2 strips of outer fabric, and one of felt, measuring 5" x 21". Pin the three strips together in this order- Two outers right sides together, then felt on the top. Mark the centre line, then draw 5 equal zigzags 4" wide and 2" high. Make the total height around 4½ or5"

Carefully machine all through three layers, close to the edge. Start bottom left, up and down the zigzags, and down the right hand side. Trim surplus fabric and turn inside out. Push the points up neatly [a biro, or large knitting needle is useful - but gently -don't push right through!] and give it a press with an iron.
Neaten the bottom edge [I used some purple binding I had to hand]. Attach two 1½" srtips of elastic neatly across the back. Then decorate your crown.
I raided my bead box for some fancy bits of broken jewellery and sparkly buttons. Sequins or a length of sparkly parcel ribbon would work just as well. 
The elastic means it will fit well - on different sized heads.
"Do you need a gift for Jesus?" I asked "Oh, no thankyou. There are eleven Kings, and only the three at the front get to give him a present"
I said that the Bible doesn't say how many magi came- just there were three sorts of gifts. It could have been two men, each with a couple of boxes - or eleven, where 6 had gold, 3 had frankincense and 2 had myrrh. But my young friend was happy anyway, and kept the crown on, even after she'd removed the royal robe!