are you guys getting in the festive spirit yet? we are! with the hubs finally done his exam we crammed all the xmas goodness we could into our weekend. it was lots of fun and pics of our adventures are coming. in the meantime i thought i would share this fun
fabric christmas tree ornament tutorial with you all. i wanted to put together a cute ornament using some
amy butler scraps along with some button love and hand stitching - thus the tree was born. we had a lot of fun in our house making a few of these and we plan on making a few more!
you ready to get making some ornaments? grab the kids and jump into your fabric scrap stash...i love digging around in mind looking for treasures and so do the kidlets! let's get making!
Fabric Christmas Tree Ornament Tutorial:
Materials:
- scraps of fabric
- batting
- glue gun w/glue
- brown felt for stump (approx 3"high & 1"wide)
- button for top of tree (optional)
- embroidery floss
- sewing needle
- pinking shears (optional)
Instructions:
*Please note I will be giving you directions to make "1" tree.
1. On a piece of paper draw and cut out 3 triangles in 3 different graduating sizes going from large to small to form the tree. Play around with your sizes. My tree was about 5" or so high not counting the stump when finished. You don't want it too big if you're putting it on the tree or it will be too heavy. I do think a large one would look cool on a door as a hanger or on the wall as well. Have some fun with it or even better get the kids to draw the triangles for you!
2. Get out your fabric scraps and fold them in half so they are equal to or more of the height of the triangle. Once you have your triangle templates cut out place them on your fabric scraps (you could also make this tree out of felt as well). Place the bottom of the triangle on the fold of your fabric so that way you only have to sew up two sides of the triangle after stuffing them (hint: your triangle will look like sort of like a diamond when you open it up). We're all about fast here :) Cut out your triangles. I pinked along the edges of mine with pinking shears so they didn't unravel and also because it reminded me of a tree but this is optional. You will be cutting out 3 triangle pieces only. Each triangle you cut will fold to form a 3 dimensional triangle.
3. Get your brown felt out (or whatever material you choose to use) for the stump. You will cut out a rectangle that is 3"high by 1"wide. This will be attached later.
4. Grab your embroidery floss in a co-ordinating or contrasting color and using three strands held together start to sew the largest triangle shut (right sides facing out - wrong sides facing each other) using the running stitch or whichever decorative stitch you desire that will hold the triangle closed. I am a crappy hand sewer but I like doing it so mine is not perfect, don't worry about perfection here - it's supposed to look handmade! Once you get to about half way done the last side get your batting and stuff that little triangle. Not too much though, just enough for it to be softly poofy. Continue to stitch your triangle closed. My daughter loves to help stuff crafts so this is her official job in our house :) Do this step for the middle triangle as well.
5. Now we're going to stitch up the top triangle. Start stitching the triangle closed along your first side then when you reach the top stop and place in a piece of embroidery floss the size you would like your ornament hanger to be that is folded in half to form a loop. Place the two ends of the floss inside the top of the triangle and stitch over the top of the triangle (I backstitched a few times here to make sure I secured the floss) and then continue to sew down your other side taking care to stop to stuff this triangle as well - stitch the rest closed.
6. Now get that glue gun heated up ladies! I forgot how much I love using a glue gun. Mine has sadly been ignored for quite some time but my little girl was sure pleased to have seen it! She thought it was pretty cool. You're going to take your piece of brown felt and fold it in half gluing the open ends together along the short side (1") ends so it forms a loop of sorts. Then place a line of glue along the outer side of this same edge and glue to the bottom of the largest triangle.
*I chose to have the side where you could see my stitches be the "right side" of my tree as the back of this tree is not as pretty as the front :P
7. Glue your tree together. The easiest way to do this I found was to dollop a line of glue along the bottom edge of the medium triangle and stick that puppy on the largest triangle where you would like it. Wait for this to dry then using the glue gun touch up any spots that are loose or wobbly so that the triangle is very secure. Next do this for the top triangle and attach it to the middle triangle.
8. Now it's time to add your button! This is my favorite part. I looooove me some buttons. I let Mackenzie have her way through my button jar to pick her faves out for the 2 trees we made. Once you've found your button simply glue that puppy on to the top of your tree or if you so desire you can sew it on. I preferred to just hot glue mine though - the kids were getting restless :)
*I hope all the steps make sense..if anyone has any questions send an email my way to luvinthemommyhood@yahoo.ca or let me know if you feel like it would be better to have some illustrations showing you what I did. My kiddos are both sick with colds today but I can always add them in for you later.
you're all done! go hang your pretty ornament or tie it on a lovely wrapped gift as a special little pressie! mine have gone to 2 lovely homes of 2 lovely women :) i hope they like them as much as we did when were making them. i'd love to see your trees if you make any - make sure to add all your crafty goodies you've been whipping up into our
flickr group! happy making!
what is your fave handmade ornament to make? do you agree that amy butler fabric makes a great pop of color to add to any tree? which fabric would you use if you were to make one? hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
