Autumn Tree Weaving Project

Earlier this week i was sitting at the dentist office waiting to get called back for my apointment, and i happened to pick up and old issue of FamilyFun Magazine that was sitting next to me. We used to get this magazine several years ago and it always has the neatest ideas. i still browse their website often for new craft projects to do with the kids.
Anyhow, i can across the coolest idea for a simple Fall tree weaving.


i didn't take pictures step by step, but you can get the full directions from the website above if you need them. i walked out back and cut a couple pieces of grape vine. Then wrapped them into basic wreaths. Then i cut 12-15 pieces of yarn. They need to be long enough to tie on the top evenly spaced, and then have quite a bit extra to tie all together at the bottom.


You could really use any kind of materials to weave through. We used wool roving, but you could use fabric, ribbons, yarn or strips of fleece (like in the familyfun photo).
Then you just weave the fabric through, using the over-under method, alternating on each row. You can add new strips of fabric/roving to create your design.


This was such an easy project my daughter (4 1/2)caught on right away. She only needed a bit of help to add the new materials, and tuck in the ends.


Her attention span didn't last the entire project though, and i ended up finishing it for her. After weaving all the fabrics into the top of the tree, you use brown yarn to wrap around the bottom yarns, creating the tree trunk. You can divide and wrap some of the strands to create branches.


Even though i helped, Sage was thrilled with her tree.


My boy also enjoyed this project. i helped him to get it set up, and tied the original strings, but he did the rest without help. It was a quick project for him, taking less than 30 min. to complete.


We used a different yarn for his that was multi-colored and slightly textured. It gave the weaving a really neat look. Once he we done, we fluffed some areas to make it have texture.


His tree really came out wonderfully, i love the colors he used.

i think this would be a fun project to recreate this summer, using natural materials...like long grasses, flower stems and leaves. i bet you could come up with some neat tree weavings by playing around with different materials/textures and colors. Both of my kids enjoyed this enough that we will definitely be looking for more weaving projects in the future.