DIY Christmas Tree Pillow

After spending last night decorating for Christmas, setting up our tree and wrapping presents, I was feeling pretty jolly and decided to whip up this easy tree pillow to share!

All I used was a $3 18″x18″ plain gray pillow cover from IKEA, random scraps of fabric, a ribbon remnant and my sewing machine. I used a filler pillow I also already owned, so this project came in at a grand total of $3!

First off I cut out the scraps into rectangles and arranged them onto my pillow for a visual.

Once I had it how I wanted, I took each piece and hemmed the bottom long side of each rectangle. I just flipped it over about 1/4″ and sewed with my machine.

To make the “points” of the tree, fold over the skinny side of each rectangle as shown. (you could also iron this to stay folded over if you’d like)

And then fold over again to make a triangle and sew along the diagonal line. Doing both steps makes your point much crisper and cleaner than just skipping to this step.

To attach each piece to the pillow, I sewed the top of each completed rectangle (it should be the only still unfinished edge) to the pillow. If the bottom corners of the piece were sticking up too much, I just hand stitched a little X on the bottom corner, but I liked how only attaching the top gave it a little 3D effect of having them loose.

Move your way from the bottom up and you’re almost there! The top rectangle ends up looking like a triangle after folding over the edges so I took my sewing machine and sewed all 3 sides to the pillow instead of just the top.

For the bow (every tree needs a topper!), I took three pieces of ribbon and folded them like this.

I stacked the three ribbons and sewed them together at the center. Then just attached it to the pillow using a needle and thread.

As you can see, my seams aren’t perfect but I love how it looks homemade and how the different colors of thread add more dimension.

I also added a little stump at the bottom after I was done by sewing a little square to the bottom and called it done!

Excuse my need-to-be-painted-nails, the old couch and the poor lighting (will the sun ever come out in Michigan this winter?). For $3 and eyeballing the pattern, I’m excited about how it turned out. It’s now taken up residency in our living room with the rest of our decorations : )

You could make so many different versions with different fabrics or even do multiple smaller trees or change it up completely and make a wreath or deer silhouette. So many options, how will a girl ever chose. Might have to make all of them : P We think these would even make a cute gift as well! What do you think?

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