I don’t know if it’s because of the Scottish blood in me, but I do like a bit of tweed and tartan. I’ve used my fabric scraps to make some tweed and tartan trees. This will add a bit of a Celtic theme to my mantle this festive season.

Tweed and tartan are traditional Scottish woven woollen fabrics. You can often pick up bags of offcuts and scraps of the fabric at fabric stores or online. Or even better, you can upcycle fabrics from old tartan and plaid shirts for this tabletop Christmas tree craft.

Making upcycled mini Christmas trees are on my Christmas crafting list every year. I made repurposed denim trees a couple of years ago and Scandinavian Felt Trees last year. Now I have acknowledged my family’s Scottish heritage with these tweed and tartan trees.

I’ve exploited tartan cloth’s woven nature to make fringe cone trees and colourful fabric feathers. For these trees, I’ve chosen scraps in more muted and natural tones.

I’ve always had a thing about tartan and plaid. This time of year, I tend to live in plaid shirts. Worn with jeans, of course! The combination of plaid and denim looks so good together. So I decided to add some denim to these mini trees.

The seams and belt loops of old jeans were upcycled to decorate the base of the tartan trees. The combination of denim and tweed works so well. I made a mini tartan and tweed forest; creating them was fun.

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What You Need To Make Tweed & Tartan Trees

• Scraps of tweed, tartan or plaid fabric. You can sometimes pick these up on Amazon or eBay or upcycle some old plaid shirts.
• Large cookie cutter in the shape of a Christmas tree. If you don’t have one, you can download a template of mine here.
• Denim belt loops and seams scraps from old jeans.
• Wooden cotton real spools.
• Small twigs to use as tree trunks.
• Fiberfil, I use old pillows for this.
• Needle and thread.
• Hot glue gun.

How To Make The Tabletop Fabric Trees

Step 1: First, use the Christmas tree cookie cutter or my template to draw around it on your fabric scrap.

You will need two identical Christmas tree shapes. I fold over the fabric before drawing around the template. When I cut out the shapes, I will get two identical trees.

Step 2: Next, pin the two Christmas tree shapes together. You will notice that the fabric looks the same on each side with most tweed, tartan, and plaid fabrics.

Sew the shapes together about 3mm from the edge. I used a sewing machine and a small stitch for this. However, you can sew your trees by hand. The edge of the fabric may fray, but I think this only adds to the look.

Remember to leave a small gap at the bottom for the fiberfill and trunk.

Step 3: Next, stuff the trees. Just use a small amount of stuffing to give the trees a 3D shape but not too much. Use a chopstick to push the fiberfill into the points of the tree.

Step 4: Add a small twig (about 6cm long) into the hole. Sew the hole shut and tightly around the twig trunk. A small dab of glue between the fabric and the twig may also help keep it in place.

Making the Fabric Christmas Tree Base

Step 5: Use a wooden thread reel to make the tartan tree’s denim base. Wrap denim seams or belt loops around the centre of the wooden spool. Use a small dab of hot glue to keep the denim in place.

Step 6: Finally, stick the twig trunk into the hole at the top of the thread spool. Hopefully, it should be a nice, snug fit. If not, use some hot glue to keep the trunk in place.

I made some tweed and tartan trees in a different upcycled fabric. I will be making some more with an old plaid shirt of mine to add to the collection.

This isn’t the only Scottish-themed decoration I’ve made for my home. I’ve also made a rainbow of painted thistle decorations and tartan Scottie dogs. Check out these other tartan craft ideas and fall adult crafts.

I also have used old thread spools to make upcycled Christmas ornaments before. One with a scroll and another one personalized with maps.

I still have some wooden cotton reels left, so I think I might make more personalized map ornaments, but this time with Scottish maps to keep that Celtic theme.

Christmas cookie cutters are handy as templates for lots of Christmas sewing crafts; I used this Christmas tree one and some others to make a cute upcycled sweater felt hanging for Christmas.

These trees are featured in the round-up of cool Christmas crafts and DIYs.

Visit favecrafts for more recycled craft ideas.