The Martha Stewart Show

Ribbon Christmas Tree How-To

The Martha Stewart Show

Martha shows Blythe Danner how to make decorative Christmas trees out of velvet ribbon.

Ribbon Christmas Trees

Turn basic ribbon into a beautiful tabletop decoration for the holidays with this simple how-to.

Tools and Materials

Velvet ribbon (22mm or 16mm wide)
Fabric scissors
Gold cardstock
Craft knife or paper cutter
Adhesive tape roller or fabric glue
Hot-glue gun and hot-glue sticks

Ribbon Christmas Tree How-To
1. To create each tier of the tree, cut ribbon (22mm or 16mm wide) with fabric scissors and cut cardstock strips (3/4-inch wide for 22mm ribbon or 1/2-inch wide for 16mm ribbon) with craft knife or paper cutter according to the following specifications:

Tier 1: 18 6-inch pieces
Tier 2: 15 5.5-inch pieces
Tier 3: 12 5-inch pieces
Tier 4: 12 4.5-inch pieces
Tier 5: 12 4-inch pieces
Tier 6: 12 3.5-inch pieces
Tier 7: 12 3-inch pieces
Tier 8: 12 2.5-inch pieces
Tier 9: 10 2-inch pieces
Tier 10: 8 1.5-inch pieces
Tier 11: 6 1-inch pieces
Topper: 3 1-inch pieces

Tip: For a shorter tree, start the process at tier #5.

2. Adhere each length of cardstock to the back of each corresponding length of ribbon with adhesive tape or fabric glue.

3. Bring ends of each piece of paper-backed ribbon together and secure with hot glue to form teardrop shape. Repeat for each piece of ribbon in each tier.

4. For each tier of ribbon loops, hot-glue pointed ends of each teardrop-shaped loop together to form a rosette. For the topper, hot-glue the three 1-inch loops together to form a half-rosette.

5. Once glue has dried, hot-glue each rosette at its center on top of the others in order of decreasing size to form the tree. Glue topper on last. Pinch loops to form pointed branches.

Resources
Ribbon from Masterstroke Canada. Neutrals paper pad, craft knife, paper cutter, adhesive roller, and hot-glue gun and glue sticks from Martha Stewart Crafts.

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The Martha Stewart Show

Ribbon Christmas Tree How-To

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