12 Crafts of Christmas: November 2011 Archives

I got so many compliments on the fabric wreaths, that I decided to use a similar concept to make little fabric trees for Christmas.

You will need a pinking shears/pinking rotary cutter, an awl or icepick, Styrofoam cones and some fabric glue for the top. This was an extremely quick project and took less than 30 minutes once I had pulled all my materials together.

For the Green tree:

I began by cutting 2x4 inch squares of fabric. I put them in the tree randomly and was deliberate about where I put them on each row. Once I completed going all the way around the tree, I moved up about a ½ inch and inserted another strip of fabric into the Styrofoam. I pushed the fabric in with the awl (no glue necessary). If the fabric did not stay, I pushed a little more in to hold it in place. I ran into issues at the top of the tree when I pushed too hard and the top break. With a little Arlene's Glue, put it back together and glued the last few pieces at the top together.

For the Scraps tree:

My mom helped with this one - we took scraps from other projects and then started randomly putting them into the tree. She cut strips of scrap fabrics and I inserted them into the tree, with no rhyme or reason. I started at the bottom of the tree and worked my way up. We used pins when I got to the top - the Styrofoam was weak there and the pins help the fabric in place.

Other thoughts and suggestions:

You could do an entire tree with pins which might allow you to make color designs with the fabric. I plan on adding a copper star to the top that I will be cutting out of a copper sheet of metal. For those that do not have a space for a large tree, this is a great way to bring a little holiday spirit to your desk or home.