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Easy To Make Unique Denim DIY Christmas Tree

I know indigo is not a traditional Christmas colour, but who cares? I wanted to make some DIY Christmas trees out of denim scraps. I’ve made Christmas patchwork denim stars, so why not trees?

You can always decorate the denim Christmas tree to give it a more festive feel. Or leave the trees “aux naturalle” and have the trees as a year-round decoration.

These DIY Christmas trees are made in a very similar way to the felt Christmas tree I made last year. Like with those trees, these denim ones are made from all upcycled materials you will likely have to hand in. Or they should be easy to get hold of.

To decorate the trees, you can use some pom-pom trim. Or, keeping with the reuse, repurpose theme, make a tiny felt chain garland out of wool sweater scraps.

This is a simple no-sew denim upcycle that uses old jeans seams.

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Upcycle Your Jeans Into A Fun DIY Christmas Tree

What you need to make a denim DIY Christmas tree

  • Seams, hems and stitched denim trim from old jeans.
  • Hot glue gun – Strong, clear glue and pins.
  • Cardboard – I used the cardboard base from a frozen pizza. Any scrap cardboard packaging will do as long as it is not too thick; you must bend the cardboard.
what need to make denim trees
twigs and woodslice

For the denim Christmas tree decorations

How to make a DIY christmas tree

Step 1: The first thing to do is to make a cardboard cone for the body of the DIY Christmas tree.

I used a cardboard base from a frozen pizza; I cut the base into a quarter. This quarter circle was then rolled into a cone shape and held in place with tape.
 
Top Tip: If you don’t eat frozen pizza, you can just draw around a plate with a sharpie on some other suitable cardboard packaging. Make the cone whatever size you want.

Making cardboard cone

Step 2: Starting from the top, cut a strip of denim to fit precisely around the tip of the cone. For these small strips, I used belt loops cut from old jeans. Glue this strip in place and hold it with a pin whilst the glue dries.

Glueing seams to cardboard

Step 3: Next, glue strips of denim to the cardboard cone. Work your way down the cone until all the cardboard is covered.

Once the circumference of the cone got too large for belt loops, I used the hems of old jeans, followed by the long inside seams. If you are making a bigger DIY Christmas tree, you can also use the waistbands from old jeans.

Using different parts of the jeans and different pairs of jeans only adds character to the trees.

Making denim christmas trees

Step 4: To make the trunk and base for the DIY Christmas tree, glue a twig to the middle of a wood slice. I used a hot glue gun for this, as the glue dries quickly.

Glueing twig to woodslice

Step 5: To finish the DIY Christmas trees, pop the denim cones on top of the twigs. Use a dollop of glue on the top of the twigs to keep the cones in place.

Beautiful repurposed denim DIY Christmas trees

Step 6: Make the denim trees more festive by adding a felt star to the top and decorations. The felt star is held in place with a cocktail stick.
 
The colourful mini garland was made by sewing small strips of sweater felt scraps into a chain.

Felted sweater wool scraps
Upcycled mini sweater felt chain
Upcycled denim Christmas tree with mini upcycled scrap felt garland.

 Or you can wrap some mini pom pom trim around your jean’s Christmas trees.

Upcycled Christmas trees made from old jeans
pom pom decorated DIY denim Christmas tree.
Repurpose your old denim scraps into Christmas trees.

 I love both the decorated and plain DIY Christmas trees. All the shades of indigo and interesting textures on the tree look great. They would look lovely on a mantle or as a table decoration. I like having a mini forest of these trees in different sizes.

You could make the denim trees on a Christmas tablescape as a place card holder. If the whole tree in denim is a bit much for you, then you can make the bases in denim, like with these tartan trees.

You can also make denim ornaments to hang on your Christmas trees; check out these fabric star ornaments with denim tassels.
 

DIY denim trees

 If you aren’t afraid of using denim in your upcycled Christmas decorations, you should check out the denim Christmas decorations here.
Or, if you like more festive colours for your Christmas decorations but still want to make repurposed decorations, check out my sweater upcycled Christmas ornaments.

I love a tabletop Christmas Tree and have also made some cute Scandi felt Christmas trees that stand on a wood slice. You’ll find other cool Christmas crafts for adults here.


 Or check out my denim feather wall decor.

Lynette

Monday 13th of November 2023

Claire, I love this idea❤️ and the sweater chain is adorable

Claire Armstrong

Monday 13th of November 2023

Thank you, the chain is a great way to use even the tiniest of scraps.

Paula

Friday 20th of November 2020

Thanks for the great ideas.. I have pounds and pounds of old/worn out jeans. Now I can use some of the up. Thanks PK

Claire Armstrong

Saturday 21st of November 2020

Thank you, unfortunately, you only need a small amount of denim for this craft so it won't make much of a dent into your stash. But I do have loads more denim ideas on the site that will!

Emily

Thursday 29th of November 2018

Your trees are too cute! I love the mini felt "paper" chain too! Thanks for sharing at our Merry Monday party. I'll be including your denim Christmas trees in my Features at our next party. We'd love for you to stop by again and share a couple more projects!

Claire Armstrong

Friday 30th of November 2018

Thank you, Emily. I had fun making that tiny chain, using up tiny scrap pieces of felt.

Rosie (@greenrosielife)

Tuesday 27th of November 2018

I love the fact you are using old denim to make into Christmas decorations. It's only "other" people who say blue isn't a traditional colour and I for one am happy to lead a new trend in making denim the new Christmas fabric and colour! A lovely festive post to add to #GoingGreen, thank you ?

Claire Armstrong

Wednesday 28th of November 2018

Thank you, Rosie I love to repurpose with denim whenever possible.

Caro | The Twinkle Diaries

Friday 16th of November 2018

Aah these are super cute Claire — and something that the littles might like to have a go at decorating!! I daren't let them loose with our real Christmas tree! These would be fab :) Thanks so much for sharing #HomeEtc

Caro | https://www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk

Claire Armstrong

Friday 16th of November 2018

Thank you Caro. I love making them.