Free Guide for Making Your Own Christmas Tree Topper
Christmas is quickly approaching, but there is still time to add personal touches to decorations throughout your home. While on the hunt for a Christmas tree, it is easy to buy more new decorations and tree trimmings. But maybe you want a more personal touch. There are many places to add your own flair on the tree, but why not focus on the point that draws the most attention, the top? Since I am building up my sewing skills, I decided to try my hand at making the tree topper this year. In years past, I swore I was going to make the tree topper because the alternative was some freaky Christmas version of Taz, the Tasmanian devil from Looney Toons. (Yes, someone thought to make him into a Christmas tree topper and it was put in a store!) Time always ran short, and I ended up tying some kind of bow at the top of the tree.
This year was different though. After cutting corners and doing a no sew version of our Christmas tree skirt this year, I figured I could make time to sew our tree topper. The benefit was I got sewing practice and was able to use some fabric from my stash pile. The fabric used was actually the remnants from sewing our Christmas stockings a couple of years ago—or maybe that was last year. Anyway, below please find the steps I took to make this year’s Christmas tree topper.
You Need:
- Fabric
- Thread
- Graph paper or template
- Pencil
- Poly-fil
- Scissors
- Seam ripper (optional)
Directions:
1. Find a shape you like online or elsewhere and print it out.
2. Cut out the shape (Figure 1).
3. If the shape is not the size you like, make it bigger by tracing it with a pencil on graph paper. (Figure 2).
4. Cut out your resized template.
5. Pin the template to your fabric, making sure it is still double folded so you get two shapes from one cut. (Figure 3).
6. Cut through both layers of fabric and around the template.
7. Edge stitch the two pieces of fabric wrong sides together, leaving at least a 1.5 inch opening to put in Poly-fil.
8. Fill your shape shell with Poly-fil until desired fullness.
9. Close up the shape either by using your sewing machine or hand stitching.
10. Use scissors or a seam ripper to make an opening for the center branch of your tree to hold your tree topper in place. (If you are smart, you can also edge stitch up to an end point on both sides that leaves a backstitched opening instead of having to cut one open.)
11. Place your topper on your Christmas tree.
Words for the Wise:
The great thing about these directions is that they also work for making tree decorations. By adding a hole at the top of your design, you can thread through some yarn or other type of string and tie it to the tree. This is probably what I’m going to do with the angle I made that was my original tree topper for this year. But after all my hard work of making a template based on my first three steps above, hand stitching in weaves of human hair, adding embellishments to her dress, and making her sparkle with glitter glue (all items I had in my house), she did not look so good poised on top of the tree. Hopefully you will have better luck if you try an ambitious shape for the first time. If not, you can do what I did and start over using a simpler shape. If you can't sew, no problem. You can follow all the directions above and then staple the pieces together.
