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I absolutely LOVE the fabulous and whimsical fabric covered Christmas cone trees that I have been seeing in stores this Christmas season. I fell in love with a BEAUTIFUL set of these trees at Neiman Marcus in Houston and wanted to buy them until I saw that each tree STARTED at $85.00! Yikes!! When I lifted one of the trees up to look a little closer, I realized that these fun trees were just cardboard that had been rolled into a cone and adorned with fabric and trim! So I sat down, talked to my engineer neighbor and figured out how to make a template for the cone and now I can’t stop making them! They’re so fun and easy and I rest them on tall candle sticks/holders to raise them up and display them. Because the cones are hollow, they just slide ride over the candles holders and fit snug and will not move. Here is the picture of the holders I used without the cones:
Cones over candle sticks:
Here are so close ups of some of the trees:
The great thing about this project is that it hardly cost me anything! I used extra fabric and trim that I already had in my fabric bin and used poster board that I paid 3 for $1.00. I was a little worried about the poster board being sturdy enough but it turned out to be perfect because the way I created my template, I basically double up the poster board. After I made my cone, I traced my cone onto my fabric by rolling it around as I marked the fabric and then I sprayed my cone good with adhesive and rolled the fabric around the cone and each one turned out perfect! Here is what the inside of the covered cone looks like (detailed step by step instructions are at the end of the posting):
These cones once covered in fabric are super sturdy and I will be able to pack them away by covering in tissue and stacking them on top of each other and use them again next year. I used several different types of fabric and found that upholstery/drapery fabric worked the best. A heavier weight cotton worked ok but it was a little more challenging to get flush on my cone and velvet and stretchy fabric was extremely difficult to get flush. I can’t tell you how easy this project is! The hardest step is creating your first template (and it’s not that hard to do) in each size but after you’ve made one template, you can just use it to draw your lines for the next one.
There are so many endless possibilities with these cones! I’m going to spray some silver poster board cones with adhesive spray and roll in siver glitter. I have also thought about doing some with feather boas in red and white or wrap in tinsel garland. Ugh, so many possibilities, so little time!
Detailed instructions are at the end of the posting and I would love to see pictures of your cone designs if you decide to create some of these fun trees! As always, that you so much for your sweet emails, comments and notes! I appreciate your thoughts and feedback so much!
I’ll be posting some more fun Christmas projects in the next week, so please check back! Enjoy your Christmas crafting!
Here are the instructions (3 steps):
Step 1- Making the Cone Templates:
1) Take a piece of standard poster board and cut out a two inch strip down the longest side of the poster board like this:
2) Take a tack and push through one end of your strip. On the other end poke a hole with a knife or ice pick and push through your pencil like this (it needs to be a tight enough fit for the pencil to stand up:
3) Push the tack and strip through corner of new poster board (not the poster board that you used to cut your strip) and keep the tack corner over the edge of a counter like this:
4) While holding your tack with your left hand, with your right hand, gently start your pencil at #1 as seen in the picture below and use your strip as your line guide but make sure you do not pull so hard that the tack and corner are raised up. Draw your line until you run out of board and reach #2 as seen below (click on diagram picture for close up):
5) Cut out your template and it should look like this when your done:
6) Cut several short strips of packing tape and have them ready to grab as you begin rolling your cone.
7) The best way to begin rolling your cone is to start at the tip (#3 on above diagram)) and sort of fold/arch it over gently halfway at your tip (see my red dashes of where to arch and tuck) until you get a good point and HOLD! Now, go to the base of the cone and tuck until #2 is on top of #1 or until you have only the rounded curve (black dashes on diagram) around your base and hold! Go back to your tip and tape it down at the point to secure. In order for your cone to stand level, you can only have the curved edge where you drew your line (black dashes on diagram) on the bottom like this:
Once you have a good point at the tip of your cone and point #4 is completely tucked in the roll, secure the cone with packing tape vertically from the tip down to the bottom over the board edge. It took me a couple tries before I got my cone rolling down pat and now I can do it in my sleep!
9) To make a middle size cone, repeat the above steps but cut 4 inches off of your measuring strip. To make a small size cone, cut off 4 more inches off of your middle size measuring strip. I made 3 templates and now all I have to do is pull out my template to trace and no longer have to use a measuring strip.
Step 2- Covering the Cone in Fabric
1) Once you have your cone ready, lay out your fabric on a large surface. Again, keep in mind, upholstery/drapery fabric are ideal, heavy cotton is ok and velvet and stretchy fabrics are very challenging.
2) If you are using a solid fabric with no pattern or pattern that you do not care how it is laid out, lay your cone down on your fabric with the line/edge of the cone meeting the edge of the fabric. Be sure and allow an extra 1/2 inch at the tip like this:
3) With a black sharpie, trace along the base of the cone onto the fabric and then gently turn your cone and trace again (if you’ve ever done a fabric cover for a lamp shade, it’s the same technique) You will do this until your line/edge of your cone has made a full circle.
4) As you turn your cone to trace, watch and hold your tip so as your turn your cone, the tip of your cone also turns on the fabric as it would naturally roll as well. Like this.
5) Trace your cone until the edge/ line of the cone has made a full roll and draw a line on the fabric from the bottom to the tip to show where you should cut the fabric give an extra inch or so).
6) Cut out your fabric (cut inside black sharpie marks) and it should look like this :
7) Go outside and spray your cone completely and heavily with a good spray adhesive. I use Treehouse and it is awesome! Be sure and spray well, especially the tip.
Place your sprayed cone onto the fabric at the same position where you started when you began to trace onto the fabric.
9) Begin at the tip of your cone and roll the edge of the fabric up like this:
10) Now begin gently rolling the cone around the fabric, slightly pulling down and watching that you do not get creases. If you are using an upholstery fabric, you will not have to pull much and it should just perfectly roll and stick onto your cone.
11) You should have about two inches or less of fabric left over that you will need to go outside and spray to get it to stick to the rest of the fabric covered cone. I sprayed the loose fabric well, especially the tip like this:
12) Finish rolling the excess fabric gently onto the cone pressing down to get a flush line like this:
13) Trim any excess fabric around the base of your cone to get a perfect line around your base.
14) If you are using a pattern fabric that you do want to position on the tree a certain way, place your cone on your fabric in the middle of fabric with 1/2 inch extra at the tip and draw your line at the base and then roll half way to the right and draw your line at the base (draw line from base to tip as well). and then go back to the middle and then roll half way to the left and draw your line at the base and draw a line from base to tip and cut your fabric.
Step 3- Trimming your Fabric Covered Cone
1) You can trim your tree with anything! Fabric trim, Christmas cording or anything!
2) Use a glue gun to begin gluing your trim at the tip of your cone on the backside where the line of the fabric is (this will be the backside of your cone).
3) You can either trim diagonally down along your cone for a sloping garland look or vertical, glueing every so often.
4) I think it looks more finished to add cording or trim around the base of the cone.
5) No more steps, get creative and have fun!
That’s it for now!! Enjoy making your fabric covered cones and I would love to see pictures of your finished creations! So fun!
Cheers!
Cyndy
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Hi I’m Cyndy and welcome to The Creativity Exchange where I turn high dollar decorating ideas into easy low-budget creative solutions. I share easy to follow tutorials for home decorating projects, furniture revamps, craft projects and every now and then a recipe or two.
Fascinating!! I love it! One question. And this might seem obvious. But how did you attach the tree to a base if the inside is hollow? Thanks for sharing your creativity!
Emily, I just altered my post to better explain the candle stick base. I also included a picture of the holders without the cones. The cones fit perfectly and snuggly over the holders. Thanks for your comments and stopping by!
These are awesome! Not having a Neiman Marcus nearby I haven't seen anything like that.
Thanks for the indepth tutorial. I always just roll paper and then try to cut the bottom level when making a cone…
Of course now I can't think why in the world I was making a cone… Right! Party hats.
Anyway, this method is much better. I can't wait to try to make these.
I'm totally going to make one right now. Thanks for the tip~
I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!! So unique, and you put really nice patterns together! Thanks so much for sharing the instructions!! What a gift…hope I have time to try one!!!
Hugs Giggles witn sincere thanks!
Cute as is, but the trim and dingle-balls make it over the top spectacular! I would never even guess that it was posterboard….and I'm adding it to my list of things to make..;)
I love this idea! I've been looking for tall cones to make trees with but haven't found any that are big enough.
I am your newest follower!!
I use heavy magazine/catalog/unwanted mail to make my cones. I'll read your tute carefully to see how I can make mine sturdier. Thanks for the tute.
Also, thanks.so.much for the eye candy ideas. Your pic really get my creative juices flowing!!
What a cute idea! Thanks for sharing the tutorial.
Tooooo cute! Great tutorial!Thanks for sharing!!
A-DORE! I made my cones this way, but hung them as cones. This has my vote – a winter wonderland that you can change up on a whim.
Those are absolutely adorable!
Very cute and so simple!
Come check out my 12 days of Christmas crafts. Now following! Can't wait to see what else you come up with!
Heather @ The Other White House
HEY Cyndy! Im your newest follower and CRAAAAAAZY about your blog! Those fabric trees…BRILLIANT!!! They are so PRETTY! I MAY can do this!! I would LOOOVE it if you would visit my blog and 14 days of christmas trees…I have a Giveaway you might like…I am SO GLAD i found your blog! Im gonna try these…cross your fingers
*ENTER CUSTOM FLORAL Give-Away Here *
xoxokara
these trees look great. has a pottery barn feel to them…
These are really beautiful! Great idea!
These are absolutely gorgeous! I can't imagine anyone spending $85 on them when you can make them for so much cheaper. All your trims and accessories make them so perfect!
I love this! I am adding it to my to do list and featuring it on my blog I love it so much! Thanks for the inspiration. I'm now following you.
Rachel
http://www.holy-craft.blogspot.com
Are you kidding me!! These are fantastic!!!! I love them. And I thought my tissue paper trees were special!!! WOW!
girl you were not joking and kidding around with your cone trees were you! they look amazing! I just popped by from tdc and I recently "attempted" trees like this…although nothing like yours! nice work!
what a fantastic idea! I 100% love it and I think I might have to try it for my front hall table. I already have some trees there but I think 1 of these would be a great addition! Thanks!
They are all so lovely. Especially the one next to the bed with the pom pom trim. What a wonderful idea to make these. Thanks for the inspiration and Merry Christmas!
I am loving these. I linked over from finding fabulous. I love your blog as well so I am your latest follower. I would love if you would check out my blog and follow me back. Thanks. diybydesign.blogspot.com
Way cheaper than buying the paper mâché ones at hobby lobby on sale too. Great idea and very nice.
you ARE a genius! what a fab idea! and they look amazing and super expensive. thank you for sharing this. thank you! thank you!
These turned out super cute!
Thank you so much, fabulous idea, thanks for sharing!!!! Take care, Laura
Beautiful! Great tutorial too! Thanks for sharing!
BRILLIANT love them all! I am stopping by from TT&J.; You should link these to my craft party on Mondays CraftOManiac Monday… Have a great weekend. Jen
LOVE it SO MUCH~Cute,Cute!!!
Great, creative idea, and one I'm going to try!
Genius!!!!!!!!!
I love your trees, thanks for sharing the instructions. I think I might need to try your feather boa idea, in white. Or maybe some burlap? You've inspired me. Visiting from http://www.lifeisaparty.ca
I love these sooo much. Especially sitting on the candlesticks…I want to run out tomorrow and make some. And I just might…..
Your choice of fabrics and trim make these truly special. In another's hands. I'm sure they would not have turned out so incredible.
Beautiful! Oh my these are amazing! I just called my sister and told her she has to make these! Thank you so much for the tutorial.
this is great, i bought some paper mache trees from hobby lobby and covered them with paper, but i was limited to the size the store sold. with this i can make them as BIG as i want. thanks for sharing.
These are absolutely gorgeous, thanks for sharing!
This is awesome! Totally trying this out!
Love the black and white tree….thanks for the tutorial!
Just awesome!!!
Very crafty! I love them all!
Too Cute! Thanks for sharing how to make them, it's the best way to blog!!
These are SO cute!! I love that you figured out how to make them yourself. This is so inventive. Love it!
those all turned out soooo gorgeously! wow i love them all! Awesome job!
AWESOME! Off to get some poster board!
Fantabulous! Very thorough tutorial also. Thank you!
These are great! I have a stash of fabric samples and more that would probably work good for this project! Thanks for the tutorial, too.
I was just thinking about how I would go about doing a cone last night while trying to fall asleep. Slipping them over the candle sticks really brought this to the next level. Thanks for such a great tutorial, very thorough.
These are so classy! Love it!! Found you through the Thrifty Decor Chick Christmas Tree Party…we had our own spin on the Christmas Tree Cones too! http://itstoilegood.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-tree-cones.html
Thanks for the detailed tutorial…These are so inexpensive to make and I am into that this year…Thanks
I LOVE THESE! Such a fun idea to be creative with! So bummed I don't have time for more Christmas crafting this year! Would love for you to visit me at Sew Chatty and link up to Made with Love Monday! The party will be open until Friday if you want to link up multiple projects. Hope you have a great day! http://sewchatty.blogspot.com
Just wanted to stop by and let you know that I featured you over at Crafts & Sutch today! Please stop by, take a peek, and grab a SUTCH an Inspiration button!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Erin
Oh yeah, here's one more WOW, those turned out FLIPPIN COOL as heck. I LOVE them, LOVE them I tell you. Please come link these to my Christmas party **6 weeks 2 JINGLE** I JUST HAVE TO HAVE THEM there. I must make me a little forest, of them, THANK YOU so much for a GREAT tutorial.
I also LOVE your blog, and am super happy I found you,,, I am your very HAPPY newest follower….
Bella
JUST BEAUTIFUL!
Love this! I found your blog through CSI Project. I'm your newest follower!
I featured your awesome tutorial here: http://vanessascraftynest.blogspot.com/2010/12/diy-roundup.html
Fantastic!!! I love their substantial size!
This are so awesome words cannot describe! I need to make some! I would love to have you link up to my Saving Christmas Party at: http://spartasavings.blogspot.com/2010/12/saving-christmas-week-8.html
how lovely, and what a great tutorial! thanks for sharing!
WOW — I just saw your feature at Kim's Cheap Chic Home and LOVE your cone trees! I am your newest follower. I lOVE projects that cost little and impact a LOT! I would love for you to visit my blog and follow me in return. Perhaps participate in my Tuesday party, as well. Anyway, congrats on the feature and it's very good to know you!
Love this idea sooo very much! Thanx for sharing!
Love these! Featured them on my blog!
i'm featuring these tom! thanks for sharing
Love your sight!! I am a new big fan.. I featured these on my sight with a link to yours.. Beautiful.
Wow! these are wonderful!! So glad I found your blog!!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful Christmas decoration! I am charmed with your trees and impressed with your photos and writing style. I first saw your photo on HGTV RMS. Thank you, Suzanne in Florida
Been meaning to stop by as I keep seeing you featured everywhere!!! Love the scale and the fabrics you chose. You made it look so easy to make. Beautiful!
This looks hard!!
Guess I will not know until I try it huh?
Thanks for the tute.
blessings
barbara jean
Beautiful tutorial! I now know what I can use all my extra fabric for. Thanks for sharing with us!
Thank you SOOO much to all of you!! I have tried to keep up with sending emails back to each of you but I confused myself with who I have emailed!!Hopefully I will figure it out! Thanks again, I am so blown away!
Cheers!
Cyndy
Thank you for the FABULOUS tutorial. I have wanted to make one of these but thought that I would have to buy one of those paper mache cones from the craft store that cost $1.99 each…and well, I'm just too frugal for that. Thanks so much!
-Aaron
These are awesome, and I just bookmarked your post. I am going to go through my scrap bag, and the boys and I will be making these later on.
Thank you for this great idea….you just got yourself a new follower. I can't wait to see what you do next.
I made Danish Christmas Hearts and Paper Christmas Stars to cheer up our tree.
Happy Holidays!
JRFrugalMom from
Frugality Is Free
I'm so impressed! come on over and link up to MMM
Thanks for the tips, especially the string compass! I made a couple of cardboard trees using a surprisingly large piece of cardboard I found after finishing a roll of wrapping paper. The string worked great.
Just dropping by to let you know that I linked to this post in a round up today from the Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip.
This will appear in the main Craft Gossip RSS feed, on the main home page and can be found directly here
http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/25-christmas-tree-crafts/
If you would like a "featured by" button, you can grab one here!
http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/
I just made some and I'm getting ready to post them on my blog, come by and have a look !
These are GORGEOUS!! Thanks so much for sharing
Very cute! I hope I get around to this porject soon! I would imagine that if you got some iron on interfacing to back your cotton fabrics with they would roll onto the cones as easily as drapery fabrics.
Thanks for sharing the tutorial as well as showing the before/after on the tree stands.
Very nice.
Love this! Thank you so much for the tutorial….Can't wait to try one myself and I want to share on my blog with a link to back to you. Perfect way of using those old candlesticks that have been put away….I'm thinking of a grouping for Halloween…spidery material….black feathers…..bling….
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!! I love this idea. I am soooooo going to try this.
Fabulous idea! I can't wait to make these! What a $$ saver!
Thank you so much ladies! I'm thrilled that you are going to try these! You won't be sorry, they are so fun to have grouped together. I warn you, it's addicting once you start making them.
These are GREAT!! Just found your site and can't wait to browse it some more!! Like the Dragonfly on one of the trees…did you make or just buy and place on there? Thanks, Carrie!
Love the trees, can't wait to make my forrest!
Just found your site via Tatertots and Jello and I LOVE it! I'm looking forward to making these trees and trying the screen print pillows. You are definitely the inspiration I needed to get off the couch and craft again! Thank You!!
Thanks so much for your tutorial, I just made three of these to decorate our cafe for Chirstmas, if you're in New Zealand, come and check them out.
I love this thank you so much for the tutorial! I will be doing this all over my house!
Hi there,
Great tutorial! It’s not easy to write a tutorial and get down to the very basics so those of us (me) who are a bit slow can follow along quite nicely! Well done!
I have a couple of questions but I’m sure you’ve already tried all of this. Instead of using the 2″ length of paper as a guide still use the push pin but use string with a Sharpie attached to create the pattern (make a string compass)? Also, would it not be easier to leave the poster board pattern flat and then cut out the fabric with that pattern then shape the poster board into a cone? Would have to remember to have extra fabric so fold over.
Thanks gain for a great and easy-to-follow tutorial,
Cathy
I tried this with my smaller version (compass pen style) and it worked well.
I think I would be tempted to add the fabric before rolling the cones. Any reason that would not work? You have done this and I haven’t so I need your input. Looks like I could just trim around the bottom with something and not have to fold the fabric over the inside. Would that work?
OMG! Love. Can’t wait to make.
OMgoodness! these are beautiful, but can’t wait to try w/ green burlap and turn into a primitive look! Thanks so much for sharing!
To make the cone sit higher on a shorter holder, I would cut a circle out of foam board and glue it to the top of the holder. That way the cone sits on the foam board circle rather than resting on the holder itself. You can adjust the height of the cone on the holder by adjusting the size of the circle that you cut. Cut larger, cone sits higher, cut smaller circle, cone sits lower. Hope this is a helpful hint!
Well isn’t that smart!! What a great idea! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
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These are, quite possibly, my favorite Christmas trees in the blogging world! I linked them to a lineup on my blog of my favorite topiary tree tutorials today. Thanks for inspiring! http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2011/11/by-dozen-topiary-christmas-trees.html
Love these! Thank you.
I don’t know if anyone mentioned this, but you could use iron on interfacing to stiffen your woven cottons to make them easier to put on.
Absolutely beautiful.Love the natural tree with dragonfly!So many different looks and options.Thanks for posting.
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Just lovely! I featured your fabric covered Christmas Tree Cones on my blog http://craftbliss.com/ and linked back to you. Happy Holidays! ~Dee
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Just want to say, I came over from pinterest, which I’m new too and love these trees of yours! I can’t wait to see how I do on a set of them, and I just happen to have a little mix of Christmas fabric to try them out of! thanks so much…:)
These are lovely….I do not sew, so I did not have scrap fabric. I am a scrapbooker and I had some decorative paper; so I made a smaller version and made three cone trees with co ordinating paper. I placed them on my existing candle holders and the look fabulous!! If I knew how to post a photo, I would surely do so. I would like to try the fabric cone trees, but this was a quick, easy, cheap and lovely project.
I’m just curious how much fabric you would need for each cone/tree? I host a monthly Pinterest GNO and we are making these next. None of us are crafty but we all are now thanks to Pinterest!
Hi Debbie!
How fun for the girlies! You guys will love this project and I actually did a GNO craft party with the cones in August and you can read about it here http://www.thecreativityexchange.com/2011/08/craft-party-christmas-in-august-3.html
As far as fabric goes, for the large cone I would say you would need a little bit more than a 3/4 yard with a lot of fabric left over. You need enough to completely roll it around. If you make your cones narrow, you can do it with a 1/2 yard. For the medium size you can get 2 or 3 medium cones out of a 1/2 and for the small cone you can get 5 plus out of half yard. Again, because you need the length and you have to roll, it’s an odd shape and takes more of the length of the fabric but you can use the left over fabric for other sizes. I hope that helps!
I would love for you to send me pics of your party and finished cones! Thanks for visiting Debbie!!
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I’m in the process of making these and am wondering how you made the tip look finished? I haven’t started with the spray adhesive yet but am afraid I’ll have a funky shape at the tip. Anyway, I’ll go give it a try and see what happens. Yours are very beautiful – hoping mine turn out as well! Thanks!!
Hi Tanya! I hope you figured it out, just got to my emails. You probably know by now that your poster board tip does not have to be perfect or even close to it. Once you roll your fabric around, you will make a perfect fabric tip. If it’s not perfect, tuck and glue and work with it! Have fun!
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I just love these!! I pinned it from Pinterest and am going to get going w maybe a few for Valentines and then Easter covered w grass and eggs . Love your site too. Great job…so much talent!
Beth