Tiny Trees

I seem to be awfully taken with little stuffed things. I have even used an old quilt revenant, made it into a pillow, turned it, stuffed it and shoved it into a cardboard-box-cave for my cat-monster-Louis to sleep in! When he tires of the sofa, of course.




But when I spotted these delightful little trees on Natalie's Chicken Blog, I decided I absolutely MUST make some. (Go see what other wonderful things she has posted. Really a great Blog-find.) She was kind enough to email me a link to the tutorial she found hers on, Thanks!

These would be wonderful along your mantle, maybe interspersed with those Wowls and some garland or lights. (I recently googled my name, and to my never ending shame and horror, I discovered I use the word "cute" in almost every comment I leave behind. I fear I make squeaky happy noises when I discover these things too.) I can easily imagine their use throughout the gray winter months, simply by changing the accompaniment for each holiday.


The trees are quite simple to construct, especially if you use a felted material, or other that won't fray too terribly. And they lend themselves to any sort of decorative embellishment you might choose. In fact, these are the perfect project for rummaging through your buttons and beads, depending on the effect. And a whole forest could support almost any style you wish to try.(I have also noticed a new tendency to overuse the exclamation point. Even two or three at a time. In a SINGLE paragraph.)

So, Let us make some delightfully whimsical soft sculpture trees:

The tree is made up of 2 parts:
Cone and base.

Simply use a string and a pencil to draw a circle on some fabric and cut out.
You then cut this circle into either 2 or 3 sections, and you will have fabric for the two or three cones.
Depending on how thick your decorative bits are, you may wish to embellish the fabric at this point, instead of waiting for the tree to be sewn together and stuffed.
For the base, take the same string and measure the bottom edge of the section, which was the outside edge of the circle. That is the measurement of the base you need to cut- the string makes a handy circle to trace around.

To Sew:
I find it easiest to to sew from the top of the tree (right sides together) about 1/3 down, leave a 1/3 gap, then sew the bottom 1/3 together.
Then join the base and the tree (right sides together again).
This leaves a gap mid-tree to turn your project and stuff it.
Then use an invisible stitch to close.
Voila!


This is a project for Thrifty Gift Chat, hosted at QuiltChat, a wonderful community of quilty folk from around the globe. Come check us out and say hi!