I would like to present to you this very unique Christmas tree. At first I sewed the original tree (on the picture bellow) in my mum’s neighbours house. The original pattern is unknown, but our lady neighbour made it during World War II as a young girl, and she doesn’t remember how now (she is nearly 90 years old). It’s difficult to say what material she was using then as well – it looks like some kind of cotton. The tree is very dear to her, but she let me take it carefully apart, under her anxious supervision, and write down pattern of my own. It might not be perfectly correct, but it’s as close as I could get without harming the tree.
You can find link to the pattern for crochet Mary and Joseph HERE.
The Christmas tree - pattern
Stitches used:
I’m going to use US terminology here
(slst.) slip stitch
(ch) chain
(sc) single crochet
(dc) double crochet
(trc) treble crochet
(sp.) space
(betw.) between
(pr.) previous row
* * repeat
You need: for cca 15cm (6”) high tree
I used cca 30g of green mohair and 5g of silver acrylic yarn of the similar thickness, but any kind of cotton, acrylic or silk will do just fine.
Crochet hook 3.00 mm
Cork 4cm (1,6”) in diameter
Wooden stick cca 15cm (6”) high
5 small green rubber bands
A bit of green acrylic colour and glue
Stars, beads, bubbles, jingle bells or anything else you wish to decorate the tree with
The tree base:
I put together the base for the tree using cork and wooden stick as you can see on the picture. I painted the stick with a little bit of green acrylic color, which I borrowed from my 6-year-old daughter.
For the tree you need to make five “rings” or circles or layers separately. I worked from bottom layer up. I was using a circular crochet method, ending each round with slst. Do not turn the work at the end.
Bottom layer:
Green yarn
Round 1: Ch 4. Slst. to form the ring. Ch1, 13 sc’s into the ring, slst. into first ch1. (13sc’s)
Round 2: Ch 5 (counts as dc+ch2), dc in next st., *ch2, dc in next st.* around, ch2, slst. (13dc’s, 13 ch2-sp.)
Round 3: Ch 5 (counts as dc+ch2), dc in same st., *dc – ch2 – dc in next st.* around, slst.
Round 4: Slst. into next ch2 sp., ch4 (counts as trc) – 2trc - ch1 – 3trc – ch1 in same sp., *3trc - ch1 – 3 trc – ch1 into next ch2 sp.* around, slst.
Round 5: Slst. into next ch1 sp., ch4 (counts as trc)– 2trc - ch1 – 3trc in same sp., *3trc - ch1 – 3 trc into next ch1 sp.* around, slst. Fasten off. Weave in ends.
Change to silver yarn
Round 6: Join silver yarn. Ch 1, sc into same sp., sc into each next st. Fasten off. Weave in ends. Bottom layer is finished.
Another layer:
Green yarn
Round 1: Ch 4. Slst. to form the ring. Ch1, 13 sc’s into the ring, slst. into first ch1. (13sc’s)
Round 2: Ch 5 (counts as dc+ch2), dc in next st., *ch2, dc in next st.* around, ch2, slst. (13dc’s, 13 ch2-sp.)
Round 3: Slst. into next ch2 sp., ch4 (counts as trc) – 2trc - ch1 – 3trc – ch1
in same sp., *3trc - ch1 – 3 trc – ch1 into next ch2 sp.* around, slst.
Round 4: Slst. into next ch1 sp., ch3 (counts as dc) – dc - ch1 – 2dc – ch1
in same sp., *2dc - ch1 – 2dc – ch1 into next ch1 sp.* around, slst.
Change to silver yarn
Round 5: Join silver yarn. Ch 1, sc into same sp., sc into each next st. Fasten
off. Weave in ends. This layer is finished.
Another layer:
Green yarn
Round 1: Ch 4. Slst. to form the ring. Ch1, 13 sc’s into the ring, slst. into first ch1. (13sc’s)
Round 2: Ch 5 (counts as dc+ch2), dc in next st., *ch2, dc in next st.* around, ch2, slst. (13dc’s, 13 ch2-sp.)
Round 3: Ch 5 (counts as dc+ch2), dc in same st., *dc – ch2 – dc in next st.* around, slst.
Change to silver yarn
Round 4: Join silver yarn. Ch 1, sc into same sp., sc into each next st. Fasten
off. Weave in ends. This layer is finished.
Another layer:
Green yarn
Round 1: Ch 4. Slst. to form the ring. Ch1, 13 sc’s into the ring, slst. into first ch1. (13sc’s)
Round 2: Ch4 (counts as trc) – 3trc in same sp., *4trc into next st.* around, slst. (39 trc)
Change to silver yarn
Round 3: Join silver yarn. Ch 1, sc into same sp., sc into each next st. Fasten off. Weave in ends. This layer is finished.
Top layer:
Green yarn
Round 1: Ch 4, slst. to form the ring. Ch3 (counts as dc), 24 dc’s into the ring, slst. (25 dc’s)
Change to silver yarn
Round 2: Join silver yarn. Ch 1, sc into same sp., sc into each next st. Fasten off. Weave in ends. Top layer is finished.
Assembling:
You just need to put the layers/branches on top of each other. Start with the largest, finish with the smallest layer. Use the rubber bends to secure the layers in the right place.
Now it’s the time to decorate your tree with stars, beads, bubbles, jingle bells or anything else you wish to.
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Felt Angels tutorial
During our recent visit to England I came across beautiful book of DIY felt Christmas toys and decorations and I couldn’t help to create some of my own. The angels won, but I’m planing to do some others.
You need:
I’m sure all you need can be found in most of your homes.
I used felt scraps for the bodies and thicker cotton for the wings
Craft glue, scissors, and cotton stuffing
I used cross-stitch thread (DMC) for whole angel
I used “French knot” for the eyes and “Blanket stitch” to secure the face and to stitch the whole project together (You can find tutorials on “youtube”)
Angel:
I drew an amateur template by hand, from what I could remember.
Adjust the pattern to make the angel the size you need for your project.
Cut out the template pieces from the paper, pin the paper to the felt and cotton and cut out each piece. You need to cut out one body, one face, two hands and four wings.
At this time I glued two wing pieces, wrong sides together, to make one wing and repeated with the other two, then left them to dry properly on flat surface. You can put some weight on them, so they dry flat.
Pin the face to the top of the body piece. Using skin colored thread, blanket stitch the face to the body. Hand stitch the eyes and mouth.
Glue the hands to the body and leave it to dry.
Than, pin the two body shapes together. Use “Blanket stitch” to sew around the edge, but leave gap for stuffing. Fill the angel with stuffing. He can be as skinny or as fat as you like. (I suggest you, do not overfill it). Stitch the edges together to finish the angel.
Glue the wings on the backside of the angel.
And there it is. A pretty little angel finished in no time.
Have nice week
Clara
Its great article to create work for celebrating Christmas.Thank you
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