I've created several lovely projects with vintage lace, including crochet covered pumpkins that have gotten a lot of attention on Pinterest and were featured on Better Homes and Gardens online magazine for fall, and a no-sew tote bag that has been featured on FaveCrafts. Since I have a never ending supply of lace and crochet trim, I decided to create a little forest of Christmas trees with it this season.
You will need several styrofoam cone forms in a variety of sizes:
You will also need some lace, preferably vintage lace. This is the assortment that I've been hoarding for such an occasion:
Because my tree forms were green, I covered them with white felt first, so the green wouldn't show through once the lace is applied. Cream colored felt would work too.
Using a glue gun, attach one end of your lace piece and begin gathering it and tacking it down as you go around the bottom of your tree form. When you complete the first row, cut the piece of lace and proceed to the next row above it, overlapping the lace sufficiently so you can't see any of the tree base.
I decided to try a couple forms covered with vintage wallpaper as a base instead of felt (if you don't have vintage wallpaper, Christmas wrapping paper or scrapbook paper makes a fine substitute.) I laid the foam tree down on the wallpaper and measured and cut in a manner that would make my high school geometry teacher cringe, but I somehow got it done:
I decided to use double stick tape to secure the paper, and it worked quite well, sticking paper to paper. It's hard to show you invisible tape, but I'm sure you can figure it out!
Once I had my tree forms covered with either paper or lace, I needed to select a topper for them, a trunk, and other embellishments:
I tried to use things I found around my house, like thread spools and spools of floss for the trunks. A glob of hot glue can be used to attach the bases:
For the toppers, I used old ornaments, beads, and a gold plastic rose. You can see where I embellished the wallpaper tree with some lace wrapped around it in a spiral fashion. Hot glue again:
So that's pretty much it for my lace Christmas tree forest. I hope you can try a variation of your own before next Christmas rolls around!
I'll be linking to the following link parties: Simply Designing, LizMarie Blog, Brambleberry Cottage, and It's a Handmade World.
Mitzi
