Fabric Christmas Trees

I saw some really cute fabric Christmas tree decor at Walmart this year--I like them, and they are only about $5 each--BUT--they are all the same size.  I like having some variety/depth if I'm grouping things together.  This post is not sponsored at all by Walmart, but wow, they've had some pretty great decorations and craft supplies this year.

Walmart version

When I wandered past the crafting section at the same Walmart, I saw some fat quarter fabric for only $1.47 each and thought they'd make awesome craft projects. Fat quarters are pieces of fabric that are 18x22 inches.  You could use any fabric (or cut up an old piece of clothing).  The nice thing about fat quarters is you don't have to wait in line to get fabric cut.


Also down the craft aisle at Walmart are some pre-cut dowels, only $1.27 for a package of 16.


Once I had my supplies at home, I poked around in the garage for something to work as the base--a tree "cookie" would be great, but I didn't have any of those, but I did have a leftover bit of 1x2 lumber, so I cut it into about 1.5" lengths.  I used my drill to make a 3/16" hole to receive the dowel.

I used a simple tree outline (you could also just make a plain triangle with no branches) and enlarged and reduced it so that I had multiple sizes.  I printed them on cardstock and cut them out as patterns.  My biggest tree is 7 inches tall and 6 inches at the base.  I also did a 6 inch tall and 5 inch tall.  I have a pattern for a 4 inch, but it seemed too small for what I wanted.


With some careful planning, I was able to cut 4 Large, 4 Medium and 4 Small trees from each of my 3 fabrics.  That meant 36 pieces which equals 18 trees.  I had to really layout the pattern carefully to get this many.  I laid the fabric out flat and traced and cut each piece.  It would be way faster to fold the fabric and cut more than one at a time, but you won't get as many pieces.


I chose to sew mine.  I also chose a "rustic" look, so I sewed them with wrong sides together and left the edges a bit ragged (instead of sewing with the right sides together and then turning it out to hide the stitching).  I started my seam about 1/8 of the way in on the bottom edge of the tree and then went around every branch until I was back at the bottom of the tree--and went in about 1/8 inch.  That left me a wide opening to insert a bit of stuffing.  I used the dowels to poke the stuffing into all the branches (I went with a slightly stuffed look, but you could really pack it in there).  You could probably do this as a no-sew craft if you used fabric glue and let it dry for several hours before stuffing.  I just liked the look of the stitching around the edges.  The sewing was the longest part of the project.

Once the trees were stuffed, I closed up the bottom seam with my machine (skipping over about 1/4 inch in the center so I'd have space to insert the dowel).  Run the dowel all the way to the tip of the tree.  Place the dowel in the base and you are set.

Materials
fat quarters of different fabrics (or if you like them all the same, just the one kind)
3/16" wooden dowels
wood block or tree cookie for base
polyfill stuffing (or an old pillow you can cannibalize)
matching thread/sewing machine or glue


My total investment was under $6 for all 3 fat quarters and the package of dowels.  I already had the other supplies.  I was able to get 5 sets (actually 6, but the dowel package leaves you short two dowels, so I went into the yard and cut a couple sticks off a shrub...it will do--if you have some small, straight tree branches, you could skip the dowels altogether).

You could do the same tree pattern for ornaments, or decorations on a wreath instead of on dowels.  I thought I'd gift each set along with the story of the Three Trees.