sewing & craft projects

MATERIALS LIST

 

2 fabric rectangles 22x15cm, these can either be in one fabric, or made up with a variety as I have done (see photos below)

a felt circle, 7.5cm diameter (this will become the base)

a card circle, 7cm diameter (card from a cereal box is fine)

2 squares of felt 5x5cm (for the star)

selection of buttons, various sizes and colours

embroidery thread (I used red Pearl Cotton 8)

stuffing & a smallish pebble (to weight the tree)

paper, a square 5x5cm, and a rectangle 12.5x19cm

chop stick for pushing in the stuffing (optional)

 

plus the usual needle, pins, scissors etc

1. Fold the large paper rectangle in half lengthways, draw a diagonal line from one corner to another, and cut down the line. Open it out, and you will have your paper tree template. Place the fabric rectangles face together, and pin on the template. Cut out the tree shape, adding an additional 1cm of fabric to the bottom. Remove the paper template (and keep so you can make more tree's later), pin the fabric together and sew down each side, 0.5cm in from edge (you can do this on a sewing machine or by hand using backstitch), then turn your tree the right way round. You can use a chop stick to push out the point of the tree if it is a bit fiddly. Turn the additional 1cm hem inwards to hide the fraying edge. I added a brand label when making mine, but just ignore that bit.

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2. Stuff the tree, lastly, adding a pebble wrapped in the stuffing inside the base to give it weight so it doesn't topple over. Pop the card circle in the base and position the felt circle over the top, sew in place using straight stitches. Now it's time to add some buttons as decoration, you can add as many as you like.

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3. Next, take the paper square, and draw on a star shape, cut out to make your star template. Use this to cut the first star from the felt, then use the felt star as the template to cut out the second, this way they both match. Pin the 2 stars together, and begin to sew round the edge to join the two using blanket stitch. When you get to the last part of the star, place it over the tip of the tree. Continue to sew the blanket stitch, one side of the star at a time, taking care to make sure you attaching the star to the tree with each stitch. Complete one side of the star, then turn the tree over, and stitch the same on the other. Then you are done!, it would be very easy to alter the dimensions of the tutorial and make your tree larger or smaller if you wanted to.

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