Sewing The Cover — Sewing A Plushie Christmas Tree, Part 3/4

Welcome to Part 3 of the ‘Sewing a Plushie Christmas Tree’ tutorial series! In this step-by-step guide, we’re helping you bring your custom-sized, cuddly Christmas Tree to life.

Let’s quickly recap where we’re at:

• In Part 1, we prepared all the pattern pieces.
• In Part 2, we assembled the cushion.
• And now, in Part 3, it’s all about crafting the cover <—you're here!

The cover is the star player for texture, wrapping your tree in soft, fluffy goodness. Since it’s designed to be soft, it’s not meant to provide structural support. Instead, it should gently snuggle the inner cushion, adding comfort and charm to your plushie.

Fluffiness: Tips For Sewing Faux Fur

I recommend using minky or fleece for the Christmas Tree cover. That said, I must confess—minky is not my favorite fabric to work with, despite its lovely fluffy texture. This is due to a few unique properties of faux fur. Here’s how to manage them:

1. Faux fur starts shedding spectacularly, the moment you cut into it.

• Cut strategically: if your fabric has a non-fluffy backing (some minky fabrics do), use a craft knife or the blade of a scissor to slash cut from the backing side. This will give you a cleaner cut, reducing bald spots and minimizing shedding. But they’ll still shed anyways. Outrageous!
• Personal care: moisturize your hands frequently to avoid skin irritation, and wear a mask to prevent breathing in the lint, if that’s a concern for you.
• Dealing with the lint: keep a lint roller and/or vacuum cleaner handy to quickly clean up the fluff.
• Machine care: don’t forget to clean your sewing machine afterward, as the lint will hide in the bobbin area.

2. Faux fur has piles (or naps).

• Use a layout with naps: for the Christmas Tree, cut the Side piece (shaped like a slice of pizza) as a single piece, and ensure the fur points downward—from the tip of the pizza to the curved edge—when cutting and assembling.
• Manage the seam allowance: if you’re working with piles longer than about 5mm, cut your pieces with extra seam allowance to avoid bald spots, which you’ll inevitably shave off at the borders and corners.
• Minimize unpicking (is that even possible?!): since sewing threads get buried under those piles, try not to make mistakes when sewing. It takes some real effort to unpick stitches, as the thread is difficult to locate under all that fluff.

3. Faux fur wants to shift wildly when placed right side together.

• A walking foot is your best friend: a walking foot ensures both the upper and lower layers feed through the machine evenly, reducing the reliance on friction between the layers.
• Work on your basting: use more pins than regular fabrics, or hand baste.
• Pull the fabric taut: At seams that can be allowed to stretch (unfortunately we can’t do this when attaching the zipper for this Tree), pull fabric taut as it enters and exits the pressor foot. This prevents the layers from stretching further while they’re squeezed between the presser foot and throat plate.

Despite its quirks and challenges, faux fur is actually pretty forgiving when it comes to sewing because:

• It usually has some stretch to tolerate inaccuracies, and
• The fluff hides crooked stitching lines like magic.

So, my advice? Just go for it—even if it’s your first time working with faux fur.

Sewing Up

With the faux fur sewing tips from earlier in mind, here’s a quick checklist right before sinking your needle down into that plushiness:

• Needle choice: minky and fleece do have some stretch, so use a ballpoint or stretch needle. Opt for a slightly heavier weight than your usual jersey needle.
• Stitch type: since the cover has the same dimensions as the cushion, straight stitches (instead of zigzag) should work fine, as the fabric doesn’t stretch significantly in this context.
• Stitch length: adjust the stitch length based on the weight of your fabric—3.0 to 3.5mm usually works well.

Before everything else, notch up the pieces like you did for the Cushion.

1. Finish all the edges of both the Side and the Bottom. This step is optional, as minky and fleece don’t tend to fray, but it can give a more polished finish and slow the shedding of furs.
2. You can try using a zipper foot when installing the zipper, though very fluffy fabric may make it tricky to guide properly 🤷. Bonus points if your zipper aligns with the nap direction!
3. With the zipper and one Half Bottom piece right sides together, sew using the seam allowance calculated in the Lay Plan (Tutorial Part 1). Repeat for the other side. If the zipper pull gets in the way, sew until you’re close to the pull, stop and backstitch, remove the project from under the presser foot, zip the pull up out of the way, and then resume stitching. To prevent the stretchy Half Bottom from becoming longer than the zipper, pin thoroughly like a paranoid, or hand-baste for added control.
4. Open the seam and gently press the seam allowance away from the zipper. Topstitch approximately 1/4” (6mm) or more from the seam line. The zipper pull shouldn’t ask you to stop midway now, otherwise you’re topstitching too close. Repeat for the other side.
5. If using zipper tape by the yard, now is the time to insert the zipper pull. Ensure it slides smoothly and doesn’t catch on the fabric fluff.
6. With the zipper in place, there’s no need to leave a hole the the side—just sew the seam as usual. Press the seam allowance open for a clean finish.
7. Stitch Side and Bottom together like we did with the Cushion.
8. Turn right side out, throw it over the cushion, and squeeeeeze! Fitting the entire cone bottom into the cover can require some…controlled passion. You’ve got this!

...And Almost Done!

So soft, so squishy—it's irresistible! (Rolling on the floor and melting into a puddle of joy.) Now, with your plushie Christmas Tree almost complete, there’s just one final touch: the star on top. Head over to the last part of our tutorial to finish your masterpiece!