Texture Tuesday: Faux Fur Mini Tree
It’s Texture Tuesday! Today I’m featuring my Faux Fur Mini Tree. You’ll love how quick and easy they are to make. I’ve included everything you’ll need to make your own Faux Fur tree in the tutorial. Let’s get started!
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Materials:
- Lion Brand Go For Faux yarn (1 skein has 65yds, I used approx 8 yds)
- Hot Glue Gun
- Durafoam Cone 9.85″
- Wood Slices (approx. 2 “-2. 5” / 6-7cm; Thickness: approx. 0. 2 “/0.5cm)s
- Gold and Silver Jingle Bells (.52″/13mm)
- Small Sewing needle
- Sewing Thread/Embroidery thread/Thin yarn/Twine
Tree Base
Now is a good time to get your hot glue gun heating up. I had some pre-cut wood pieces laying around for a different project that never came to be and decided they would make the perfect base. I thought it made a unique tree trunk by gluing 4 pieces together. You can glue one or none if you prefer.
Choose your 4 slices. I chose a bigger one for the bottom, then the next 3 were a little smaller but similar in size. Let’s glue our wood pieces together. This is where you have to be quick. You don’t want the glue to start to harden before you press them firmly together. Start by putting a decent amount of glue on the bottom piece. But not enough that it squeezes out the sides when pressed together. Once I put the glue on and pressed the pieces together with my hands, I quickly stood on them with my heel to press them firmly together. Careful not to crack them in the process.
After the 4 pieces are glued and set, you’ll glue them to the bottom of your cone. Repeat same as above by putting the glue directly on the wood piece and pressing it firmly to the bottom of the cone for a few minutes. Be sure to center it evenly in the process.
Attaching the Faux Fur yarn
Here comes the fun part! Attaching the yarn actually goes pretty quick. To start, you’ll want to be sure you’re winding the yarn around the tree with the fabric strip side against the tree. This is to keep the fabric from showing and your tree looking furlicious. This can be tricky as the yarn twists as your winding. It’s ok if it’s not 100% flush.
To begin, you’ll put a dab of glue on the tip of the cone and press the very end of the yarn to it. Wait until it sets, and will not pull off, before you begin winding the yarn around. Tip: Before you start gluing the yarn to the cone, you may want to get a feel for how you’ll be twisting it around the cone. You don’t want a sticky, furry mess! Holding the yarn in your left hand and the cone in your right, begin twisting the cone while controlling the yarn with your left hand. Or vice versa, if you’re a lefty.
Now you’ll apply about an inch strip of glue at a time or less. Immediately begin winding the yarn around. You don’t want your glue to start to cool and harden before you’ve wound your yarn around it. You’ll want to wind it tight against the cone and be sure you’re not leaving any gaps between the yarn as you wind it. The more bunched together the better. Tip: You’ll only want to glue in one line, straight down the cone. The cone I used had a seam down the side. I used that as a guide to keep my glue straight down the cone. Once the glue hardens, you can feel it and you don’t want your whole tree to feel bumpy. I made that seam the back of the tree. You can’t see the seam though.
Continue gluing and winding until you reach about a 1/4 inch from the end. This is where you want to glue the last strip of yarn tightly and evenly around the edge. You can choose to either spot glue it or put a thin, even layer of glue around the edge as you slowly wind the last strip. Tip: Make sure you’re right on the rounded edge or else you’ll be able to see the cone edge when you stand the tree upright.
Decorating Your Faux Fur Mini Tree
There are a ton of decorations you can put on your tree. Michael’s stores have all kinds of mini ornaments or make your own. It even looks super cute with none. A mini row of lights would be super cute too!
I like to use mini jingle bells. They’re fun and easy to put on your tree. To begin, you’ll need a darning or sewing needle small enough to fit through the loop on the top of your bell. But big enough to slip twine, or your preference of material, through the eye to string your bells. For this tutorial, I used some scrap twine but doubled up sewing thread would also work well.
You’ll add as many bells as you think you’ll need. You can always pull some off at the end if you added too many. Don’t cut the other end to a set length. Once you have your bells added, you’re going to remove the needle and attach the end of your twine to the tip of your tree. I chose to attach it on the backside, where I glued my yarn to the cone. You’ll want to spread the fur apart and add a dab of glue. Quickly attach the twine and cover it back up so you can’t see the glued end. Now let that set.
Once the glue is set, you’ll start winding your twine around the tree, spreading the bells out evenly as you go. You can choose to pull the twine tight so you can’t see it, as it will blend in with the fur, or leave it a little loose so you can see the strand. As you wind it around, you can space it close together or farther apart. I’m a minimalist when it comes to decorations so I spaced mine farther apart.
To finish off your string of bells. You’ll apply a dab of glue like you did at the tip. I made sure it was partly in the fur so it blends in. Let that set, then cut your twine as short as possible so you can’t see the end of it.
There you have it! One Faux Fur Mini Tree, now that you’ve made one, you won’t be able to stop. Don’t forget to tag me @jessicapazcreates and use the hashtag #fauxfurminitree.
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Happy Making!
Jessica❤