Curvy Tree Ornaments - 12 Projects of Christmas #4

These ornaments are so cute you'll want to make an entire forest of them! Anyone would love to receive one as a hostess gift or package topper, but you probably won't want to part with your trees once they're done. 

You can make your curvy trees like we did with Jean's gentle curve piecing technique, or cut your fabric with straight lines in varying widths. This is a very forgiving project to practice Jean's techniques, because the size of the trees makes it easy to cut around any mistakes or areas that aren't laying flat. Either method looks great! 

The project below is for Jean's Stuffed Trees class and is an example of trees with the fabric cut in straight lines.

If you do want try Jean's gentle curves method you can watch her demonstrate the technique in this video...

Tips for tree success:

• When selecting fabric be sure to choose a range of value and print size. It's nice to include a few holiday prints, but not all your fabrics need to be holiday themed. 
• Use a small or medium sized rotary cutter and put a new blade in your cutter. Really--put in a new blade--you'll be thankful later.
• Trace tree template on heavy paper or template plastic. It's much easier to cut around the template, instead of through it, if it is thicker. 
• If using a tree limb for the trunk, use dry wood. Fresh cut wood can leak sap on your project (yes, we found out the hard way).
• Make sure to leave your turning opening at the center bottom of your tree so you can add and center the trunk.  
• Glue your tree trunk to your stuffing with hot glue. It holds better than liquid craft glue and it won't leak through to your fabric (unless you go way overboard on the amount of glue).
• Add the glue to your trunk and then push the trunk into the stuffing. If you add the glue to the stuffing it's much harder to insert your trunk.
• Don't stress if things aren't "perfect". These trees are meant to be charming and quirky. 

We created a kit with everything you need to make 10+ trees (you will have extra fabric), or use up your green and holiday scraps.  Our kit includes 12 - 3" x 21" fabric strips, 1 fat quarter (for backing), 10 tree trunks, and cording for hanging. You can purchase the pattern only, as a PDF online or a printed version in the store. 

If you discover you love this technique, try Jean's Colorwork table runner. It looks stunning in holiday colors. Jean used all solids in her Christmas runner shown below. 

Jean's book Intuitive Color & Design is another wonderful resource for learning more about gentle curve piecing and Jean's other methods. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Stitchin' Post's The 12 Projects of Christmas is a newsletter event. Each week starting in October we've selected a fun and fast project, perfect for gifting or holiday decorating. Every project is designed and selected by our experts to make it easy for you to find and craft stylish useful items everyone will love.