Ticker Tape Tree Tutorial

As I have been catching up on last year’s scrap theme, I have promised to post a few tutorials and here is the first one – the Ticker Tape Tree.

I had a lot of oddly shaped scraps of one fabric, so I made my background from different scraps in a similar value. If you are using lots of different fabrics in your tree, you may want to keep your background calmer.

Layer your batting and backing, and cover it with scraps (or one piece of background fabric) – dark for a light tree and light for a dark tree.

Secure all the edges with zigzag stitches or several straight seams.

You can see my dark blue seams on the back.

Prepare your tree scraps. My scraps were oddly shaped, so I cut them into approx 1” wide strips. Figure out how tall you want your tree to be, and place enough scraps to get the required height on your cutting mat (I used 8 rows). Place a ruler on top of the scraps, arrange the pieces as in the picture, and cut them.

Do the same for the other side of the tree; the top piece needs to be cut in both directions.

Place the ruler on the background at the same angle as when you cut your scraps.

Place all the left side pieces. 

Move the ruler to the other side, and place the right side pieces. Trim the pieces on one side or both with scissors so that you get a little gap between them, or use more pieces in one row. It looks better if the gap is not in the same place in every row.

Pin all the pieces in place, and start stitching them down. I have stitched mine with orange zigzag stitches – first the vertical gaps in each row

then the perimeter of the tree

then horizontal rows on the top and bottom of each row

and last I have filled out the whole background with horizontal rows.

you can see all the stitching on the back.

My tree panel is ready to be made into a pillow; I just need to decide which size. Fortunately I have more of that fabulous orange wintery print. You don’t see too many of those around do you.

If you are wondering why on earth I’m posting a Christmas tree tutorial in February, there are some good reasons for that. First of all – I need to do it while I still remember how I made my tree. Second – I need to do it before I forget that I promised to do it. Third – you can use the same technique for almost any shape. And last – one thing is sure, Christmas will come around again before you know it!

Thanks for stopping by!