Oh Christmas Tree….pillow

Christmas Tree Pillow. I got up early Thanksgiving morning before anyone else got up and went straight to my craftroom. The best quiet time of the day! I made this little pillow using scraps of fabric that I had left over {from making Halloween costumes in past years!} Another FREE-2-ME project!!! Yippeee

I made a 2” circle template from the back of a cereal box and cut out a LOT of circles from four different shades of green felt! I used felt because it’s what I had on hand plus I knew the material wouldn’t ravel!

The shears I’m using are called pinking scissors. I thought it would add texture and depth to the “tree” and hide any imperfection from my cutting! If you have never seen pinking scissors before, they create a zig-zag edge and they can be found in most notions department.

I cut out 2 16x16 squares of velvetish (is that a word?) material. I don’t think it’s actual velvet? Just something I picked up out of the remnant bin a few months back. I also cut a quick template to decide how big I wanted my tree and trunk.

I outlined the tree and trunk template with a disappearing ink pen. This pen writes in purple and will fade away in time.

Back in the day I managed a sewing store and bought this big fancy shmancy sewing machine. I thought it would be fun to use some of the features, like the eyelet stitch.

The nice thing about this stitch is that it locks in the stitch with a knot and cuts the threads when it’s done. All I have to do is press the green button and away it GOES.

**You could easily do this with a back and forth running or zig-zag stitch.

Set the felt circle down on the right side of one pillow square and place the presser foot down in the center of the circle and sew.

Lift the circle that you just sewn up and lay the next circle half way over the circle you just stitched. {like in the photo above}

Mix your shades of green as you go along. I used the lightest color of green sparingly compared to the darker greens. This is just my personal preference.

I thought I would stitch the circles in rows starting at the bottom of the tree but thought it might end up looking too perfect. I opted to stitch a row of circles around the outside edge and then fill in the center.

When it’s all filled in go through and clip any long threads. I had some circle that stuck out more than others so I simply gave them a trim with the pinking shears.

Time for the trunk of the tree. I thought I would have some fun and add a little texture instead of just a plain brown appliqued square tree trunk. I’m using a brown fleece material, only because it was a darker brown than what I had in felt. Cut the brown fabric twice the width that you want to end up with.

I created the trunk using a bit of a pin-tuck treatment. Fold over the material and sew on the edge of the crease. The farther you sew away from the crease the large the “pin-tuck” you will create. No need for pins or pressing, I just eyeballed the creases.

Practice and you will have it down in no time! You can see my first few I did (on the left) looked ununiformed but they got better each time. Lay the truck pattern over the best pin-tucks and cut out.

Sew the trunk on the pillow front slightly under the green circles center of the tree with a wide zig-zag stitch. Set the zig-zag length down low, so the stitches are close together but still sew in a forward motion. ****If you turn you dial down to zero it will stay in one place, that’s not what we want.

I cut out a simple pattern of a bird and appliqued it to the top of the tree just like the tree trunk.

Sew up the pillow by laying the 2 16x16 squares right sides together and sewing around all the sides but leaving a small opening on one side, turn right side out, stuff the pillow, and hand stitch the opening close.

To get nice crisp corners, cut the material off at the corners as close to the thread on an angle (see photo above) without cutting the threads.