A FanU Style Tree

I was going to do this tree as a video. Then I realized how long it was going to take to do. Instead, I thought it would be better as a blog post.

Here is the background… I had one tree idea in mind using the segmented pin cushion from An American Girls Book. I was picturing making three different sizes and stacking them. That would need 18 to 24 little triangles in three sizes. My favorite local shop, Chestnut Bay, had this great green on green cotton flannel. (I’ve had such a thing for soft fabrics lately.) I picked up a short length. It sat there on the table calling to me, saying “If you are going to make a tree, you ought to make a FanU style tree.” Well. It was right. Sorta. I decided to make a tree. I decided to make a tree the full size of a sheet of pasteboard. Here was the mistake. I hadn’t previously covered such large pieces of pasteboard…. they take Forever!

I divided each of 4 sheets of pasteboard in half diagonally. Basically, this makes two trapazoids for triangular tree halves to fit in. I freehand drew the outline of half a tree, and inverted the tree half to draw it on the other side:

I cut 4 pairs of tree halves (or 8 tree halves) and 4 pairs of fabric tree halves with allowances to turn over the pasteboard.

I covered each pair of tree halves. To do this I did use a little glue stick because the pieces were so big with stripes and mini-clips around all the sides. Each half took a while. In the end, I only made 3 halves rather than the planned 4. I wanted the tree to be able to fold shut for storage. I was also getting very tired. So. 3 piece tree.