Fun Christmas Tree Quilt Block – For Crumbs & Scraps!

Time needed: 30 minutes

This is an improv piecing method so I’m going to be asking you to step out of your comfort zone and leave the precise measuring behind. Trust me – this will be fun!

1. Pick the Size of Your Tree (Triangle)

   While we won’t be precisely measuring our fabrics ahead of time we do want to have a rough guide for what size we want the Christmas Tree to be.
   
   Keeping in mind the size of quilt block you want to make, find (or draw) a triangle shape that would fit well within that size of block.
   
   So for example I used my AccuQuilt Isosceles Triangle Die – which cuts a 5″ x 6″ triangle and finished with a 12″ quilt block.
   
   You can use any triangle ruler or just draw a triangle shape and use that as your guide. You can make these Christmas Tree Quilt Blocks as small or as large as you like!

2. Create your Tree

   I made these tree blocks using two different methods for the main body of the tree itself.
   
   If you are already a crumb quilter you might have some ready-made crumb blocks you can use as the basis of your scrappy tree.
   
   I like to make one-color crumb quilt blocks so I already had one in green ready-made. Crumb blocks make great patchwork trees and they cut down on fabric waste too.
   
   If not you can also use scrap fabric strips of any width to improv piece your tree.

3. Improv Piecing

   If you are using an existing crumb block you can skip this step.
   
   See image below to make sense of the written instructions!
   
   -To improv piece your tree, start with an off-kilter-looking triangle to be the top of your tree. This should be a scrap of green fabric.
   
   -Next, sew a red scrap of fabric to the green scrap on the edge the lowest edge of that first scrap, right sides together with a 1/4″seam allowance – we are making a red garland that runs along your Christmas Tree.
   
   -Press open and sew another scrap of green to that red scrap. Make sure each strip is slightly longer than the one before.
   
   – Press open again and then trim at an angle in the opposite direction to your first red piece of ‘garland’….imagine stringing a red garland onto a tree and follow the line you want the garland to go in…or check out my video tutorial below if this is making no sense!
   
   – Keep alternating green, red, green, red and changing up the direction of the angle by trimming just before you add each red piece.
   
   – As you get further down your tree go back to the triangle shape you are using as your reference so you know that your tree is big enough. When your slap of scrappy strips covers your whole triangle – you are done with this step!

4. Cut out your Tree

   Once you have either a crumb block in green or a slab of green and red stripey pieced fabric you are ready to cut out your tree.
   
   As I said I used my accuquilt die to cut the triangle shape for my trees but you can use any triangle ruler or just cut a triangle with a straight-edged ruler to the size you want.

5. Add Background Fabric

   Choose a piece of background fabric to add to your tree piece.
   
   White fabric works well but I used denim too – see my photos below! White backgrounds obviously are going to look like snow but you can get creative and use whatever you like!
   
   Your background fabric should be longer than the longest side of your tree and at least half the width of your estimated final block size and sew right sides together on one long side of your tree.
   
   As a guide I used a fat quarter for the background on this block but I had plenty left over.
   
   – Sew along one long side of the tree with the right sides of the fabrics together.
   
   – Trim the background fabric to follow the lines of the unsewn sides of the tree (see photos below)
   
   – Repeat on the other long side of your tree.
   
   – Fold in half down the middle of the tree and trim so that the top and sides of this section have straight lines and match each other.
   
   If your background fabric is too small for your desired block size you can just add extra strips of fabric to the top or sides as needed later on so don’t stress about this bit.
   
   If this kind of no-measuring improv piecing is new to you, it might make more sense if you watch the video tutorial.

6. Cut your Tree Trunk

   To add your tree trunk take your brown strip of fabric and ‘eyeball’ a size for your tree trunk.
   
   For the trunk of my 5″ x 6″ tree I cut a trunk that was roughly two fingers wide and a little less than two fingers high (see the video tutorial).
   
   Trust your judgment about how big your trunk needs to be to look right for your tree. Just remember you need to get your 1/4″ seam allowance in to piece it as well.

7. Add Background Fabric to Tree Trunk Section

   Whatever height your tree trunk is cut two strips of your background fabric to the same height and half the width of the block you want to make.
   
   Sew these strips to either side of your tree trunk.
   
   For a more free-form approach to piecing this bit see how I do it in my video below – no measuring at all!

8. Sew Tree Tunk and Tree Sections Together

   Find the midpoint of your tree by folding it in half and lining up the middle of your tree trunk with that point.
   
   Sew the trunk and tree sections together.

9. Add an additional Background Strip

   I added an additional strip of background fabric below the trunk.
   
   Again I didn’t measure I just aimed to make it roughly the same distance from the top of the tree and the bottom of the trunk to the outer edge of the block.
   
   Other options for the bottom of the blocks would be to pick a fabric color for the ground, snow, or grass and piece something below the tree for it to ‘stand on’.

10. Trim Final Block to Size

    Lastly, trim your block down to the finished desired size.
    
    I use my fingers and hands to center my tree and a large square quilting ruler to trim my block to size.