I have a very talented cousin (in-law) who hosted a craft night last week. We all came home with three cute Christmas trees made from ripped strips of Christmas fabric. She gave me permission to post the instructions and pictures of our trees. Thanks again, Cami! We had a lot of fun.
We used a cross section of real wood, drilled and fitted with a painted wooden dowel. Start each tree a few inches up from the bottom and tie a strip to the dowel. Hot glue in place. Tie the rest of your strips above the hot glued strip, starting with the 15 inch strips and working up to the 7 inch strips. Turn the knots and push strips down as you go so the knots are not all on one side and they are nice and compact. Only hot glue the first strip,the rest can just be tied on the tree (I double knotted) without glue. Allow 3 inches of dowel or so at the top of your tree to hot glue the star. Trim any strips or stray threads with scissors that you don't like, and viola! Cute Christmas trees are done!
Here is what you need:
6 fabrics, 1/2 yard each (each fabric will be about 18"x42")
16", 20", and 26" dowels
3 pieces of wood with hole for dowel or other kind of base
3 stars or toppers
hot glue gun
scissors
Cut each fabric into 18x15, 18x12, 18x9, and 18x7 inch pieces.
Clip up an inch into fabric every inch along 18" sides. Tear fabric into strips with hands.
Small Tree- 16 inch dowel (bottom to top):
3- 15 inch pieces of
each fabric (3 strips x 6 fabrics = 18 strips total)
4- 12 inch pieces of
each fabric
4- 9 inch pieces of
each fabric
2- 7 inch pieces of
each fabric
Medium Tree- 20 inch dowel:
6- 15 inch pieces of
each fabric
6- 12 inch pieces of
each fabric
4- 9 inch pieces of
each fabric
3- 7 inch pieces of
each fabric
Large Tree- 26 inch dowel:
9- 15 inch pieces of
each fabric
8- 12 inch pieces of
each fabric
8- 9 inch pieces of
each fabric
4- 7 inch pieces of
each fabric
Total for all three trees:18- 15 inch pieces of EACH fabric
18- 12 inch pieces of EACH fabric
16- 9 inch pieces of EACH fabric
9- 7 inch pieces of EACH fabric
FYI: I had extra strips left over, so this is just a basic guideline. The amount of strips on your tree depends on how tightly compacted you can get them.
Leave a comment if you have questions!
Presents have been bought or made, wrapped, and shipped. Now it's on to the baking. Many a loaf of poppy seed bread has been made this year. I wrapped them in plastic and then festive tissue paper with a cute tag. We're starting to pass them out to friends and family. Three batches of my mother-in-law's fabulous english toffee has been made also. I'm trying not to eat all of it before my family gets here. 
