Today we're all about Christmas trees - but these won't drop needles all over your floor or fail to fit back into their box at the end of the season. Best of all, these trees cost pennies!
We made these trees several years ago. They were inspired by a tree I had received as a gift a few years ago. I thought it was cute and could be something I made as a family Christmas gift. This project was a collaboration between hubby and I - he cut the wood for the bases and glued down the dowels. I sewed up the trees, added the buttons and stuffing and stuck them onto the dowels!
I don't have a picture-filled tutorial, but this is what we did.
I found an outline image of a Christmas tree that wasn't too big. I bought a lot of green felt (way way way too much actually - I'm still trying to use it up!). I cut two trees out of the felt for each tree I wanted to make. Next I added buttons - I like the favorite findings buttons because you can get lots of them in different colors, but you can use any buttons. I sewed them all on by hand (this was the step that took the longest - we made 12 trees I think? It was a lot of buttons).
Next I sewed the trees together, wrong sides facing - I left a small opening at the bottom for the dowel, and added some stuffing. Then I used glue to attach the tree to the dowel - a little on the tip of the dowel, and the rest at the bottom. I can't remember if I used tacky glue or hot glue, but either would work!
Last Christmas, I made a few more trees - I have this vision of a little forest display with lots of different kinds of trees. I needed some more, so I added these.
You'll need styrofoam tree forms (I found mine at the dollar store!), and green yarn. I used leftovers from my stash, but any would be fine. I found wool to stick better.
The first tree I sort of did 'improv' style - I just wrapped the yarn around until I felt like it was covered. It was OK. The second tree I tried to make neat rows of yarn. This was difficult. The third three I used two strands of yarn and did the improv thing again - much better! I like this one best.
I also decided to add some sewn and stuffed trees. I had seen some online years ago, and wanted to make some, but failed to grab the pattern when it was available. Of course, it has since been taken down. And now that I'm writing this post, I'm having trouble finding that one I used six months ago! However, I did find another similar pattern for you - it is a bit shorter than what I used, but you could easily modify it.
I used scraps of green fabric, but these would be cute in a variety of colors. Mine don't lean as much now as they did, but some weights in the bottom of your tree would help with that. These now live in Ben and Ellie's nursery, but I imagine they'll come back out for the holidays.
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