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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Tutorial: Textured Tree with Pleats

Hello, hello again!  Earlier this week, I shared the first of two textured tree tutorials and I am back today with  the second installment in this little mini series of fast and fun blocks to piece.  Ready?


This tree is all about pleats!  I've been playing with pleats for a few weeks now and I think they are so fun.  For this tree, you'll start with a 6" x 18" strip of green fabric. I am using Ornament Malabar Green from Tradewinds from our shop.

Pleat the fabric by creating some folds, ironing along the way.

When you finish, it should look like this.

Now, grab a piece of interfacing (about 6 x 8) and fold it in half and cut a diagonal line to make a triangle.

Fuse the triangle to the wrong side of your pleated strip, being careful not to disturb the pleats.  Then trim the edges off using your ruler and rotary cutter.

Stitch along both sides using a 1/8" seam to hold everything in place before we move to the next step.

Now, grab a 10" square of white (or other background).

Slice the square in half with a off-center diagonal cut.

Flip the left side over, so that we can piece around the tree.

Piece each side to the tree, one side at a time, leaving overhang at the top and bottom.

Press toward the background.

Trim the background in line with the bottom of the tree.  And prepare a trunk strip by cutting a 3" x 10" wide strip of white in half and inserting a 1.5" wide strip of a brown scrap.

Piece the trunk strip, pressing toward the trunk.

Attach the trunk strip to the tree block.  And for the next step you'll need a red rectangle about 4" x 8".

Make two diagonal pleats in the red fabric, starting at the outer edges. Press.

Then add a center pleat and press.

Take a scrap of interfacing and rough out a tree skirt shape.

Adhere the interfacing to the wrong side of the pleated red piece, taking care not to disturb the pleats.

Cut out the tree skirt and Fray Check the edges.

Applique the tree skirt using a zig zag stitch to secure it to the larger block.

Press your block and move it to your cutting mat.  Trim the block to 8" x 10".

Trim a piece of white card stock to 8" x 10".

Use double sided tape or clear scrapbooking tape to line the edges of the cards stock.

Align the tree block on top of the card stock, gently pressing the edges to secure it to the card stock. And place it in an 8 x 10 frame.

Of course, you could piece these into a quilt or pillow if you'd rather not make it as wall art.  Also, I would recommend adding any embellishments (buttons, beads etc), before adhering to the card stock.

Please let me know if you have any questions!  If you make a pleated tree, I'd love to see it - so link it up in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Sewing!  :-)

18 comments:

  1. Once again.....so cute!!!! Adorable pleats!

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  2. Now that is a pleated tree, thank you for the tutorial.

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  3. What a wonderful idea! Thank you so much for this. I'm ready to give it a try!

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  4. I love the textured things you're doing. I think this is just adorable!!! Thanks for a cute tutorial.

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  5. This is so adorable! Thank you for showing us!

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  6. I'm all over this! I think your tutorial is fantastic and I can't wait to try this out. Thank you very much =)

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  7. That is such a cute idea!! Love it!

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  8. That is super cute..... adding it to my "must try's

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  9. LOVE this! How creative! The skirt just makes it extra special!

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  10. oh goodness! this is amazing! i am pinning the crap out of this!

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  11. What a wonderful idea and technique. I'm ready to try it! Thanks for sharing.

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  12. I finished mine in an hour, made a couple of changes and voila!
    http://sewdarnquilt.blogspot.com/2012/07/dots-tree-and-aclose-up-of-sorts.html
    {hope this is ok for a link}

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  13. You make it look so easy. I love it! Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Love it - thanks for sharing this pattern.

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  15. Just found this today-- Oh so cute! Thanks for sharing!

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  16. I love this! I can imagine this as a Advent calendar at Christmas. Just make it bigger, have the pleats go the other way and stitch lines to create pockets to put the little treats in and there you go! Thanks for sharing!

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  17. Love it.Thanks for the inspiration and sharing this valuable technique.

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  18. Gracias por compartir tan excelente idea y tutorial felicidades!! Saludos

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