Quick & Easy Tree Skirt

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Our Christmas tree skirt is layered. The top layer is an early marriage quilt project that fit our first artificial tree so many years ago. We thought it was the greatest investment we could make for our home at the time and I was so pleased to create something festive to finish off the look.
 
As artificial trees go, it was very modest and after 20 years or so it showed a lot of loving wear. It owed us nothing when we replaced it for a tree with a larger circumference. But the family wouldn't hear of replacing the tree skirt, - it was "tradition,"- even though it looked so meager under the new tree.

The solution was to layer it. I got a round table cloth that complemented the quilted skirt and reached the edges of the tree's branches, instead of making something from scratch.
 
                                        
 
This is a really simple project. You don't actually need to sew anything!

Begin by folding the circle in half and press. Then fold it a second time and press, making a pizza shaped quarter circle. Now you have the exact center of your circle. 

Decide how large the opening will be based on the size of the tree truck. Any circular object can be used as a template to draw a circle in the middle of the table cloth. Measure its width across the part you will be using as a template and divide by 2. (For instance, if you're using a small juice glass measure across the opening of the glass, and then divide it in half. Three inches across the mouth of the glass means the measurement you need is 1.5 inches.) 

To determine where to draw the circle, measure out from the center point along the fold lines in each direction using the half measurement (in our example, that would be 1.5 inches.) When you place the circle template between the four marks made in each direction of the fold it will be centered.  

Draw the circle. Now choose one of the folded lines to cut, stopping at the center point. Cut out the small circle for the tree trunk and you have a tree skirt with the outside edge already hemmed.

However, the cut edges need a finishing so they don't fray. Since my tree skirt opening is hidden from view by another skirt on top of it, I used Dritz Fray Check liquid along the edge to keep it from unraveling. If the opening is overlapped in the back and covered with gifts, whose going to know? 

For a more finished look, I would recommend a matching premade bias tape, found in the notions section of a fabric store. A thin bias tape will conform to curves fairly easily and can be sewn around the center circle and down each edge of the opening. Velcro or ties sewn along the edge will keep the skirt from shifting away from the trunk, if that is a concern. 

( Check out this link to read the details of the quilted Christmas tree skirt: https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2021/12/linen-closet-early-project.html)








 



Christmas tree skirt from table cloth

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