Easy Ribbon Trees Tutorial
I have memories as a kid of making Christmas ornaments with my mom out of styrofoam balls and little scraps of fabric. I loved pushing the pins into the styrofoam because it was so satisfying to see it come together. And after some Pinterest inspiration - I thought that making Christmas ribbon trees would be just as much fun! And I discovered that with a little help - even my 6 year old could handle making these cute little ribbon trees.
These trees are very inexpensive to boot. They’re ideal as gifts for family, friends, even teachers. And they go together very quickly. You can sit with some good music and a cup of coffee and while away a half hour and make one of them.
There are many different varieties of these little trees - including what you choose to use as a topper. I tried out a few different looks. On one I did ribbon that is looped without crossing. On another I did ribbon that is looped while crossing. I did all of one type and one that had rows of different varieties. And you’re certainly not limited to traditional Christmas colors with this one - you could use any color you wanted and they would still look great.
Materials Needed
- Variety of ribbon (how much will depend on the size of your tree - but take advantage of those sales and stock up next time you see one)
- Styrofoam form (you can find these at craft stores and some dollar type stores)
- Straight pins
- Scissors
- Mini bows (for toppers if you like the way it looks)
- Hot glue gun with glue (to attach mini bow to top)
Step 1 - Cut Ribbon to Size
For all of the tree sizes - I cut the ribbon to the exact same length (about 2 3/4″.) It made it look consistent throughout all of the trees. I measured one and then just used it as a guide for cutting all of the rest of the pieces. I don’t have enough patience to actually measure each and every piece! Plus, these trees are very forgiving of minor ribbon “inaccuracies”.
Step 2 - Pin Ribbon to Trees
Next, you’ll make a loop with each individual ribbon piece and pin it to the styrofoam tree form in rows. Pin it at the top of the ribbon in the middle of your loop. Pictures speak louder than words in this case.
Once you’ve done row all the way around - repeat again staggering the ribbon loops just a tiny bit.
Next, go all the way around again.
And keep repeating until you’ve covered the entire tree.
In the case of this smallest tree - the top wasn’t large enough to glue a mini bow onto. So I improvised and simply wrapped a small loop of ribbon around the top prior to making the very last upper row. I did this so that the last row would disguise a bit of the messiness of my loop.
And the finished tiny tree!
I chose to do loops of the same type for this tiny tree. But I chose a different kind of loop for the next tree. It looks just a bit different. The variety makes me happy!
Step 3 - Glue a Mini Bow on Top
Lastly - finish off the top area. For the larger trees, I wanted to finish the top off with something besides a ribbon loop (the area was too large for a loop anyway.) So I took a small piece of ribbon and wrapped it around the uppermost row of pins (to disguise the end point) and then hot glued a mini Christmas bow on top. I think it adds just a little extra something!
Here’s an example of rows with alternating loop styles.
I made four total to create a small display for our holiday decorations. Here’s a few shots of all of them put together.