Trees for Kids...

During one of Andie's visits she was perusing some of the multitudinous catalogs I get during the holidays. She came across a stuffed tree made out of felt in the Smithsonian catalog that she thought might have been fun for Hayden and Bailey. She shared the picture with me and said she didn't know why it couldn't be made with buttons so that kids could take ornaments off and put them on over the buttons. I agreed that was a wonderful idea for little ones. I'm pretty sure all this idea was precipitated by Hayden who really wanted a Christmas tree in his room.

The end result was me saving that picture.

Tonight I determined to make two trees for Claude to take to LaGrange tomorrow. Hayden gets to choose his favorite book and invite someone to come and read it to his class this week. Hayden called and asked Claude (Pa) to please come to his school and read for them. When he happened to mention to his mother that Pa was the smartest person in our family, that secured the deal. Which meant tonight I had to make these trees so they could be enjoyed before Christmas.

I'll not show you the original, it would just put mine to shame. But I'm so impressed with this idea for a tree your child could have in their own room and one they could play with and not hurt anything AND one made out of stuff you probably already have at home if you sew and are a bit crafty (Jake is really cringing at the length of this sentence!), that I felt impressed to share it in my Blog in case one of my nieces or niece-in-laws might want to make one for their kids.

First...the pictures of each side of the little stuffed trees.

Now for my instructions. Remember I was trying to get them done this evening so I kept it very simple. That does not mean you couldn't add your own florishes and ideas.

First, I made a pattern for the tree by holding a piece of typing paper in landscape mode. I folded it in half. Then I drew one side of the tree shape so it filled that half piece of paper. Make sure you curve the bottom of the tree. There is not truck on this tree. I cut that out and opened it up so that all the sides of the tree matched.

Second, I searched for scraps of fabric in Hayden and Bailey's favorite colors. You only need enough fabric to cut out two of your tree shapes and one bottom piece for the tree. If you choose to make larger trees, you'll need more fabric. Bailey gets a pink tree and Hayden gets a green tree.

I cut two of the tree body and one of the bottom. To cut the bottom I folded my fabric in half and laid the curved bottom of the tree on the fold of the fabric. Do this so that the pointed ends of the tree were even with the fold and the extra part of the curve is over the fabric. You'll end up with an oval shape that is pointed on both ends of the oval. But it will fit perfectly for you when you sew up the sides.

Next I sewed on fun buttons. I happened to have buttons that Andie gave me when she was a school teacher. I also looked through my extra buttons and used some brassy ones and some that were flower shaped. You can just use old save buttons of any shaped and color. I chose to only sew 6 buttons on each side to keep it simple and give the kids plenty of room to work. I could see using beads and other things as well if you want to get a little fancier. I even thought of checking my bell supply and adding them to the tips of the branches but time ran out and I passed on that idea this time. Just be creative as you want and with what supplies you have on hand.

Then I determined to sew on top of the fabric instead of placing the fabric front side to front side, stitching and turning. Way too much time and effort for this project. You may feel differently. I happened to have two stuffed cloth stars. I pinned the two sides of each tree together at the points of the branches before sewing and pinned the stars in at the top to stitch in as I stitched the sides together. Then I just top-stitched the sides.

Next I pinned the bottom to the bottom of the sides pieces. Then I top-stitched this leaving an opening for stuffing. I made sure I opened the seam on the sides of the tree at the bottom as I stitched around that area.

I stuffed the trees next and finished by hand stitching the bottom opening I left for stuffing the trees.

Since I needed to finish these tonight, I chose to just cut out circles of felt (sort of like round ornaments on a Christmas tree). I used the bottom of a large spool of thread for my pattern and a ball-point pen and drew a circle on my felt scraps. Then I cut out the circle and cut a slit in the circle. This kept me from making lots of buttonholes. You may choose to use fabric and make button holes or any number of other methods.

My trees are finished and ready for Pa to take to the munchkins tomorrow. They can move the Christmas ornaments as they choose. I'm anticipating they will really enjoy their little trees between now and Christmas. I spent not a penny, only my time. After all, that is the best gift to give at Christmas, isn't it?