Cute DIY Macrame Christmas Tree Wall Hanging Tutorial

I’ve been wanting to make a macrame Christmas tree for a long time so while I was going through my piles of macrame yarn that I have left from other projects, I thought that it was finally time to make one. This particular light green yarn used is a leftover from my modern macrame wall hanging tutorial and I love this shade of green so much.

A couple of years ago I made a Christmas tree canvas out of Ikea fabric and it was so popular which reminded me that there clearly are a lot of people out there who don’t have the room for the standard Christmas tree. It is perfect for apartments, small spaces, or even campers.

How to make a macrame Christmas tree with fairy lights

This macrame Christmas tree is the same concept as my macrame wreath tutorial that I did a couple of years ago. The Half-Hitch Knots created a shape with a center onto which you can weave the yarn to create a tassel. For the wreath, I used thick wool and for this Christmas tree, I used macrame yarn.

You can customize this tree according to what you prefer. The sage green macrame yarn that I used is a bit pricey and I only used it because it was leftover. I’m sure you can find a cheaper option. You can also add beads to the spots where I added the yarn tassels. Or you can fill the entire macrame Christmas tree with tassels and not just the bottom like I did. I however wanted to show some of the macrame details and different knots which is why I didn’t fill the entire tree with the tassels.

Like I said above, I used a wooden gift tag from Michael’s and drilled big holes into it for the yarn. Since then I have found the perfect star that I could have bought instead.

Instructions for making your own macrame Christmas tree

I love opening and combing macrame yarn. I love the process of it and I adore the look of it. Another example is my combed macrame yarn art. I definitely wanted to incorporate this look into my little Christmas tree.

The most asked question on any macrame tutorial is always: How much yarn did you use and how much do I need overall? And it’s never a straight answer to me and here is why…

When I started this Christmas tree project, I wasn’t exactly sure how big I wanted to make the tree but I knew that if I had a lot of scraps at the end when trimming the fringe I’d use that for the tassels so I wasn’t worried about using too much yarn.

If you use a cheaper macrame yarn than mine that is maybe 3mm or 5mm then you maybe need a different length or amount. So that’s something to keep in mind as well.
If you want to make it a bit bigger than mine then you will obviously also need longer pieces of yarn.

my yarn measurements

• 20 pieces of yarn (I cut mine all at 160 inches long which will leave you with a lot of scraps in the end. As I said, this is fine because they are needed for the tassels. It is more complicated if you calculate and subtract inches to make them shorter as you progress on the tree.)
• yarn for 10 tassels (6 pieces of string per tassel at 8 inches long = 60 pieces of yarn at 8 inches long altogether)
• 8 pieces of ivory yarn at 16″ inches long

Step-by-step photos

Creating the body of the Christmas tree

I started out by folding two 160-inch pieces of macrame yarn in half and looping them onto the holes in the wooden star with Lark’s Head knots as shown in my video.

Then I taped the star with duct tape to my kitchen counter.

The entire macrame Christmas tree pattern is basically made with diagonal Double Half Hitch knots (some also call them diagonal Clove Hitch Knot but there is a slight difference in the yarn piece actually crossing in the back). Half Hitch Knots are loops placed onto another piece of yarn or in this case also at the bottom of the tree onto the dowel rod.

Make two Half Hitch knots right after the loops on the star.

And then add one 160 inch piece of yarn folded in half onto the left and right side.

In this case for the macrame Christmas tree, you have to keep adding yarn pieces to make the tree shape wider towards the bottom.

Add the strings with reversed Lark’s Head knots. It’s the same looping technique used when adding the yarn to the star but this time just turned around so you don’t see the loop.

Then it’s time to add another row of diagonal Half Hitch knots followed by adding more yarn pieces.

The below image is a guide to show where the extra yarn was added.

At this point, I added an extra loop of Half Hitch knots after the reversed Lark’s Head knots on each side to make the tree a bit wider without adding the yarn. Let me show you what I mean…

I repeated the same row another time.

After that, I added another row of diagonal Half Hitch Knots followed by two 160″ pieces on each side.

When I had 24 strings hanging down, I decided it was time to add the diamond pattern. Separate the yarn into 3 groups of 8.

Time to make the diamond pattern.

It doesn’t look like it in the below photo, but the diamond center has 6 strings on the inside. I took that as a guide for the rest of them.

After that create diamonds all the way down. In the end, I had 4 diamonds at the bottom. Keep adding the rows of diamonds as shown in the video with the help of the above description until you have the desired length of the tree.

Three times I added a second row of diagonal Half Hitch Knots to add some interest but that’s also optional. Below you can see one of those double rows.

At the end, I added square knots to even out the rows before adding the dowel rod.

I don’t have a set number of knots that I used because some needed more than other strands to make it all look even and hang the rod straight as you can see in the above image.

Attach the dowel rod to the macrame Christmas tree wallhanging by looping the 40 hanging strings into Half Hitch knots again around the rod. Since you cut 20 pieces of yarn at the beginning and then folded them in half to add them into the piece, you now ended up with 40 strings.

I opened and combed the bottom fringe. This is where you can soak the fringe in starch, let it dry and then comb and trim the ends which is what I did.

Depending on the type of yarn the ends curl a lot after opening and the starch helps prevent that.

I added the starch to the bottom fringe and ivory tassel but not the rest.

Adding the tassels

Below I’m showing you one piece of yarn in a contrasting color so you can see how all the tassels were formed on the macrame Christmas tree. This is exactly the same way I added the wool in my macrame wreath tutorial.

That is how you add the ivory tassel that creates the tree trunk of the macrame Christmas tree.

Cut 8 pieces of ivory yarn at 16 inches long, fold them in half and loop them through the bottom center.

And it is exactly the same way that I added the green tassels afterward too. I opened and comb all the yarn but didn’t add any starch.

Open and comb the yarn and after that trim the tassels. Mine are about 2.5 inches long.

Below you can see the exact measurements of my tree.

Finished Macrame Christmas Tree

I really love how this little Christmas tree turned out and looks amongst all my other macrame decor. It has definitely become a hobby of mine to work with yarn.

Check out how cute the macrame Christmas tree looks hanging in our green kitchen.

And did you notice the stove handles? Ugh, that is another story I need to tell. Since my stove makeover, the glass of the stove has broken twice. I came to the conclusion that the DIY drawer pulls were the reason the glass kept breaking. One of the major flaws of our stove is that the door is mainly made out of glass. The handles are attached to glass which should never be the case in my opinion. So I replaced those handles with dark ones made for our stove and so far no more issues.

Below you can see a grouping of my 4 favorite unique macrame wall hangings that I made: combed macrame wall hanging with embroidery floss, macrame chain link garland wall hanging, modern macrame wall hanging, and the Christmas tree again.

I don’t make a lot of colored macrame pieces but another one I recently made is my macrame heart with leftover yarn from the tassel keychain tutorial.

So this is my last crafting and home decor post for this year. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I might write a little recap yet but I’m not sure.

I already have a couple of ideas about what to make in the new year. So I hope you’ll stick around to see.

Tschüß,