Last month, Victoria Findlay Wolfe came to the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild to do a lecture and trunk show. As a stay-at-home-mom, I was inspired by her concept and accompanying book, "15 Minutes of Play." She encourages busy creative people to take just 15 minutes and play with fabric scraps, essentially turning it into what she calls Made Fabric. While she concentrates on quilt blocks, I am in Christmas mode and wanted to make ornaments.
I had this lovely charm pack in my studio, and I decided to get the rotary cutter out and start chopping.
You will need:
Fabric scraps or fabric that can be made into scraps
Rotary cutter, cutting mat and quilting ruler
Sewing machine
This pdf pattern
Working with a few squares at a time, I made four straight cuts, leaving me with five irregular pieces. I was also sure to create some long rectangular strips.
My lovely charm pack soon turned into this pile of inviting scraps.
I put them in a bowl and mixed them like a salad.
Right sides facing, with 1/4" seam allowances, piece two together then add a third. I grabbed randomly from the bowl; my only rule was that I wouldn't use the same fabric twice in a row. I keep a small ironing mat on my sewing table and press seams to the side as I go.
Trim irregular sides to make them straight, then continue adding pieces.
Print the template at 100% and transfer it to thin cardboard. Piece enough fabric to be able to cut two triangles out. It's sort of like using a cookie cutter on cookie dough! This triangular frame allows you to choose what the tree will look like.
Trace the outside of the triangle directly onto the fabric. This will be the line to cut. I made enough fabric to create two triangles — one for the front and one for the back of the tree. If you use a different piece of fabric for the back you could have two ornaments out of the made fabric.
Front and back pieces, ready to be sewn together.
Pin right sides together. Add the hanging loop at the top, making sure to sandwich the loop down between the tree pieces, leaving the ends hanging out at the top (not pictured).
Leaving a 2" opening at the bottom, sew with a 1/4" seam allowance, making sure to do a few backstitches at beginning and end. Turn, stuff and use a ladder stitch to close the opening. Your tree is ready to hang!
I plan on making more of these; I still have a big bowl full of coordinating scraps. Maybe a star-shape would be nice, too.
Enjoy your crazy patchwork tree ornament. I love that it'd be virtually impossible to make the same tree twice. Have fun!
xo Karin
