Christmas Tree

In November 98 I saw a segment on Aleene's on how to make a small christmas tree with a cardboard cone and satin sheen. Following are my instructions of my version which I made before I saw the instructions on Aleene's site, then the instructions from Aleene's site.

My Version of the Christmas Tree

Materials:

• Cone from sewing thread
• Aleene's satin sheen (white or green)
• Empty tube from tinfoil or plastic wrap (the thinner the better)
• Tall lid from a shampoo bottle
• Laundry detergent scoop
• 10-12 inch piece of fabric for the tree skirt

Green Tree Instructions:

The first tree I made was the green one. I had just watched the show and now writen instructions for it only what I could remember.

• I found I had an empty green plastic sewing thread cone lying around. I used that just the way it was.
• I cut an about 20-inch piece of green satin sheen. I folded it in half and made little cuts to the fold about every 1/8 of an inch.
• I glued it onto the cone with my glue gun starting at the bottom with the fold on the glue and wound my way around the cone. When I ran out of satin ribbon I measured how much more I needed and cut it and frayed it and glued it on.
• The top of the cone has quite a big hole. I found I had a small ball that fit into the hole and glued it in place.
• The tree looked ok, but had not trunk. The shampoo lid went all the way up inside. So I had to come up with another idea. I used a lid from a pill bottle to close the cone off lower down and then glued the shampoo lid into that.
• For decorations I looked around what I had and found a star which I glued on top of the blue ball. I also found a plastic gold bead necklace that I wrapped around the tree and some other small things I had lying around that looked like ornaments.

Now I had a cute little tree. I discovered that I had cut the satin sheen the wrong way (against the grain), but that didn't matter, this way it had much shorter leaves/needles and gave it a different look.

White Tree Instructions

So I went to work correcting my mistake with another tree, this time a white one.

• I made my own cone by wrapping cardboard around a sewing thread cone and cutting it out and glueing it together. Now remove your sewing cone template.
• I cut the satin sheen in about 5-inch long pieces, folded them in half lengthwise and then in half widthwise. Now when I made a cut every 1/8 of an inch, the cut when with the grain of the satin sheen (longer leaves/needles)
• I started glueing the pieces of satin sheen onto the cone until it was all covered.
• I cut a hole into the bottom of the laundry scoop with an exacto knife. Just mark around the cardboard tube on the scoop.
• Then I glued the cardboard tube into the cone and cut it down to the length I wanted. (Put the tube through the hole in the scoop and measure that way, remove it again).
• Trace the outline of the scoop on some cardboard or styrofoam and cut it out with an exacto knife.
• Cut a 10-12 inch circle from the fabric you have picked. Cut a hole in the center of the fabric to let the cardboard tube pass through.
• Thread the fabric onto the cardboard tube, push tube through the laundry scoop.
• Now put glue onto the bottom of the tube and the edges of the scoop and attach the cardboard or styrofoam piece, this give the whole thing stability.
• Drape the skirt around the scoop and glue it onto the scoop at about 8 different places.
• Decorate the tree. Congratulations on a job well done!