Mermaid Sequin Christmas Tree

DIY Mermaid Sequin Christmas Tree

I give all credit to one of my Instagram followers for this idea, so if it’s you… please leave me a comment! I was chatting with someone who said a local office had their street number in mermaid sequins on the wall. The idea of a giant interactive mermaid sequin ‘sign’ made me wildly happy so I made a giant mermaid sequin Christmas tree just in time for Christmas!

Obviously you can choose any color sequin you want… I opted for the classic red and green. (Full source list at the end of the post.)

Step 1. Cut your wood

To start, I looked over my scrap wood and found this large-ish piece of 3/4″PureBond plywood. I wanted something that would feel almost life size to my kids… I’m guessing this is about 4 feet tall. I drew my guidelines and then just used my jigsaw to cut the two angles to make the plywood scrap into a tree shape.

Step 2. Add batting

I wanted there to be a slightly cushy feel to the tree so I pulled out my batting. Using a light coat of spray adhesive, I smoothed the batting onto one side of the wood and then gently flipped it over to staple in place along the back. Using a staple every 6-inches or so, I affixed the batting to the wood making sure there were no lumps or wrinkles. With a rotary blade and a straight edge, I cut off the excess batting.

Step 3. Upholster with Mermaid Sequins

I’ve never worked with mermaid sequins, but picked up a couple of tricks along the way. The first thing I decided was which color I wanted to be the ‘main’ color. I opted for the green so smoothed the green sequins DOWN before stapling the fabric. Then, I upholstered pretty much as I would anything: I worked my way from side to side being careful to pull the fabric as tight as I could. I didn’t flip it over to check the front as often as I would have with regular fabric, but I did make sure there were no wrinkles periodically. The corners were a little tricky because of the sequins, but ultimately I was able to wrap the fabric just as I would regular fabric!

Trimming mermaid sequins is a messy job, so have a dust buster ready. I had lots of excess fabric when I was finished so I used some craft scissors to trim the fabric about an inch from the edge.  I considered trying to cover the back of the tree to hide the rough fabric edge, but that seemed like a lot of work so I just made sure to trim the excess as neatly as I could and called it a day.

Step 4. Add wood trim (optional)

Technically this step is TOTALLY optional. You can flip over your tree and lean it against the wall without these side pieces, but I think they add a finished detail and keeps the sequins from getting too beaten up. I used 1×2 pine boards along the edge of my tree and attached them by predrilling through the 1x2s and then using finish screws to screw them into the side of the tree. Careful not to predrill into the tree itself as the batting will most likely twist itself around the drill bit. To determine the angles at each corner, I eyeballed as best I could… geometry left my brain years ago! (See my video below for a better look at this step… I got too excited and forgot to photograph!)

Aaaand that’s it! We don’t have a great wall for this otherwise I would have used some picture wire to hang this 6 inches above the ground. For now, it’s just leaning against the wall so the kids can gather around and play with it whenever they want! If you have smaller kids, just place this flat on the ground so you don’t risk it tipping over on them. It’s not big enough to do any damage, but still… better safe than sorry!

Is there anything cooler than a mermaid sequin? I think not!

Materials for Mermaid Sequin Tree:

• Mermaid sequin fabric (1 yard)
• 3/4″ PureBond plywood (or similar)
• Batting
• 1×2 pine lumber
• 1 1/2″ trim head screws