How to Make Fabric Cone Trees for a Retro Modern Christmas

DIY cone trees might be the most versatile, affordable and cute Christmas decorations you can make.

They are easy to whip up with hot glue and poster board, and you can customize them to fit any style from retro to modern.

You might have seen these fabric cone trees featured in my “Pinkmas” pink Christmas tree village. Today I’ll show you how to make them!

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DIY Cone Christmas Trees Tutorial

First off, here’s a video showing how these trees come together. Keep reading below for details about each step.

Materials

• Poster board (easy to get at the Dollar Tree)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Scissors
• Fabric (amount varies)
• Iron and ironing board

Cut and Glue the Cone Tree Shape

Start rolling and forming your poster board into a cone tree shape, using one of the corners as the tip of the tree. Hot glue it together, let it dry and then cut the base of the tree flat.

Storage Tip: If you make different heights of cone trees, then you can stack and store them within each other to save room after the holidays.

Prepare Fabric Strips

Cut long strips of fabric about four inches wide (or your desired width). Fold the fabric in half so it is two inches wide and iron it.

Glue Fabric to the Cone Tree Base

Cut off a strip of fabric to glue around your base, leaving it long enough for some overlap. Glue it along the inside of the base of the cone, trying to line up that ironed crease right at the bottom.

Then glue the fabric around the outside of the base. Since this is a cone shape, you’ll get a little bit of fabric bunching throughout this project. That is part of the look and adds an interesting texture.

Glue Fabric Around the Cone Tree

Now fold over the end of a strip of fabric and glue it to itself, as shown in the photo below. Then glue that end to the bottom of the tree, covering the seam you made with the bottom layer of fabric.

Start wrapping the fabric around the tree, gluing along the top frayed edge of the fabric.

As you wrap the fabric around the tree, cover the frayed edges with the new layers of fabric. Ultimately, just the ironed edges will show, and all the frayed edges will be covered.

Adding a New Fabric Strip

If you get to the end of a fabric strip before finishing a cone tree, glue an edge over itself like before, and glue that over the end of the last strip of fabric.

Try to line up that seam with the beginning seam, so all the seams will be in the back of the tree.

Gluing the Top of the Tree

At the top of the tree, be generous with the glue. Fold over the strip of fabric to cover the tip of the tree with no frayed edges exposed.

Then fold the strip over itself like before, and glue that to the tree to finish off. Again, try to line up the seam with all the previous seams in the back.

That’s it! You can add your cone trees to a fun Christmas village display.

Or stay on the minimalist side with just a few accessories, like retro style reindeer.

Classic Reindeer

Pink and Turquoise Reindeer

More Cone Tree Decor Ideas

You can be as creative as you want, using any color of fabric or other materials. I’ve seen people glue hard candies to their cone trees. Or use spray paint and glitter, shiny beads, or little felt leaves.

I had so much fun making these, I decided to use my leftover poster board to make fur cone trees for my grandma.

Fur Cone Trees

To create a fur cone tree, start by making the poster board cone like above. Then cut some fur fabric to wrap around and hot glue to the tree.

The white snowy fur will hide the seams pretty well. Plus, it’s whimsical and fun.

My grandma grew up in Crosby-Ironton, Minnesota, and spent a lot of time on Mille Lacs Lake, so I made a sign to personalize this display.

And the red Christmas truck, reindeer and bottle brush trees are all from Target.

DIY Christmas Decor

So much fun, right?! There are countless ways to make and style a cone tree to fit your Christmas decor.

You might also like my other DIY Christmas decor ideas.

• Make a felt Christmas tree skirt, retro style
• How to make a mid-century Sputnik card wreath
• Create a pink Christmas tree village