I saw this idea for ruffled Christmas trees at Home Goods a month or so ago, and knew they'd be super easy and fun to make on my own. Ready to make your own ruffled, fabric Christmas tree? Let's get started...
Materials:
styrofoam cone - (in this tutorial I used the largest size that JoAnn, Micheal's, etc carries)
wooden star
gold metallic acrylic paint and sponge brush
glue gun and glue sticks
1/3 yd fabric (45" wide) - I used cotton but knit would work well too if you don't want the frayed look :)
Instructions:
1. Cut strips of fabric 2" wide. Using a large styrofoam cone, I used 5 strips that were 2" x 45" (the width of my fabric).
2. Right sides together, stitch all strips together end to end, into one long strip using 1/4" seam allowances. Press seam allowances open.
3. Using a basting or gathering stitch (longest stitch length on your machine), stitch 1/4" from the edge along the entire length of your fabric strip. To make gathering easier, you can adjust your machine's tension to a 9 (or highest tension setting), and it will form soft gathers as it stitches.
4. Pulling on top threads only, gather length of strip, or adjust gathers as needed if you let your machine do the work :).
5. Loosely wrap the gathered strip around your cone to ensure you have enough length to cover the entire cone. If your strip is a bit short, you can release some of the gathers and make them less full to add more length.
6. Using your glue gun, place a few inches of glue near the gathering stitch on the wrong side of the fabric strip. Attach the glued area to the bottom of the cone, with the bottom edge of the fabric strip aligned with the bottom of the cone.
7. Continue glueing a few inches of the gathered strip at a time to the cone. With each new round, place the gathered strip so it just covers the top of the strip below. I liked the look of the gathering stitch showing, but you can adjust and place your rows closer together if you prefer.
8. When you reach the top of the cone, glue your gathered strip so it covers the top of the cone. It can stick up a bit in the center, which will give the star a better place to rest :). Trim any loose threads.
9. Using your gold metallic paint and sponge brush, paint your wooden star on both sides and allow to dry.
10. Using a couple of dabs of glue, attach the star to the top of your tree along the bottom edge of the star.
That's it, great work!
Enjoy your new little Christmas tree!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Thanks for reading!
