The snow has been flying this week. It’s the perfect time to stay in and craft away! So today I am showing you how to make vintage lace Christmas trees. They are a beautiful holiday craft idea to work on when you’re staying cozy indoors!
Anytime that I get to craft with vintage lace, I am a happy lady! And showing you how to make vintage lace Christmas trees has really put me in a good mood. I love that I get to enjoy and admire so many gorgeous laces in one place. Add in a beautiful vintage tree topper, and I am just plain smitten!
How to Make Vintage Lace Christmas Trees
I first shared this project a few years ago in my membership group, Tami’s Making. All of us girls loved the way they turned out. And I think that enough time has passed now that I can share them with all of you. You don’t need much for these lace Christmas trees. Your stash of vintage lace, a styrofoam cone, and your glue gun.
Don’t have vintage lace, that’s ok! You can also stain any new lace or ribbon with tea. I do it all the time to age new materials. And if vintage isn’t your style, that’s ok too! Use new laces and any colors that you love. Make your tree with whatever lace or ribbons that fit your style.
Vintage Christmas Tree Tips and Tricks
These DIY Christmas trees are pretty straight forward. But I did learn a couple of things in the process that might help you out.
If you are nervous about how and where to layer your laces, remember that you can lay it out before you glue. You can practice it a few different ways and then decide what you like best where. This is especially handy when you go to add your “garland” lace. If you aren’t sure which laces will work best together, try out a few together and then decide.
Also, decide how what you are going to do with your seams before you start. On my first tree, I purposely didn’t try to keep all of my seams in the same spot on the “back” of the tree. I thought it would add to the ratty look of the design. But it turned out that there were a few seams that bothered me.
So, for my second tree, I decided to make a “back” where all the seams lined up together. If you keep all of your seams in the same spot on your tree, you can easily cover them when you are done. A line of buttons would be a cute way to disguise them!
Or, you an do like I did on my first tree and not really pay attention to them. I was able to cover many of the seams with my tree trimmings but there were still a few that I could see and they bothered me a bit. I still love the first tree though! My advice would be to decide which way you want to do your seams before you start and just go with it.
Vintage Lace Christmas Trees Supply List
- Styrofoam cone for your Christmas tree base
- Paint for the base (This is optional. If you are using thick lace that you can’t see through, there is no need to paint your tree. If you have lace that is see through or has large holes, you will want to give your cone a base layer of paint. An off white or cream color would work great!)
- Vintage lace (or new lace!)
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Tree topper (spindle or other vintage item that you have/love)
Vintage Lace Christmas Trees Instructions
- First, cut the point of the cone off with a knife.
- If you need to paint your cone, that will be the next step. Give it a coat of paint and then let that dry.
- Next, decide which lace you want at the bottom of the tree. I try and use a larger and interesting lace here. I had a beautiful vintage lace collar that I used for one of my trees and it was perfect!
- Play with the lace to see where you want the bottom to hit before you begin gluing. Then cut it to the size it needs to be to circle your cone.
- Add a line of glue where you want the top of your lace to be. Then put the lace in place, gently pushing it into the glue. Continue around your cone, adding glue and placing the lace.
- Then repeat the same process with your next piece of lace. On this second tree, I kept all of my seams in the same spot so I could cover them more easily.
- Continue working from the bottom up, adding more layers of lace as you go.
- I like to add as many varieties of lace as I can. And I put a really interesting piece right towards the top. You can choose to add whatever laces you want, however you want. I just love the contrast of the different textures and designs.
Trimming Your Vintage Lace Christmas Tree
- Now it’s time to dress up your lace tree! Choose a smaller lace to work with. I chose a pretty eyelet for my tree. Start at the top and wrap the lace diagonally toward the bottom, gluing as you go.
- Then use another small lace to wrap diagonally the other direction. Continue until you are happy with the overall look. Think of these bits as the garland draped around your tree. I used pompom ribbon that I had tea stained for one of my garland layers. I think it really makes the whole look of the tree.
- Now we get to add our tree topper! You can use anything you want for this. Just hot glue it right to the top of your tree. Spindle tops would work great as toppers. Or decorative knobs from vintage furniture.
- I painted my topper with with cream colored chalk paint. Then went in with a wet rag to wipe some of it away and distress it. The paint covered areas that were pretty rough. The distressing re-aged it. And the color blends really well with the lace. So it worked really well for me. You can go the same route or leave your topper piece as is. It’s totally up to you!
The Wrap Up
And that’s how you make vintage lace Christmas trees! They are simple to make and make such a unique beautiful addition to our vintage Christmas decor. I kept my trees pretty simple because I wanted the vintage lace to be the star of the show. But you can add anything you want to dress them up! Buttons, keys, jewels…whatever you have and want to add.
I would love to see how you use these vintage lace Christmas trees in your own home. So if you post any pictures of yours on social media, tag me so I can check them out! As always, I hope you love this project as much as I do. Happy crafting, friends!
Make sure you never miss a Live or discount for my website! Sign up here to receive texts and I’ll let you know when fun things are happening! https://my.community.com/tamilovesvintage
Tami’s cell phone number: 740-273-6693
Looking for more decor inspiration? Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram! You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel so you never miss a video tutorial!
If you love creating vintage treasures as much as I do you can also join my membership group, Tami Loves Creating Vintage Treasures. There you will get exclusive tutorials that will teach you how to create beautiful and unique pieces that will fit perfectly with your vintage decor!
d unique pieces that will fit perfectly with your vintage decor!
