2nd Day of Christmas

A Family Christmas Tree Skirt

A few months ago my cousin Heather asked me if I would be interested in trying to make a burlap tree skirt for her family.  The basic idea was burlap with a ruffle around the outside and incorporating red or green chevron fabric.  She sent me a few pictures to give me an idea.

I followed most instructions from this tutorial but found a few other sites were helpful as well.  Now even though she mentioned this in August/September I didn't get around to actually cutting the burlap until November.  Then I gave it to her so they could put their handprints on first, that way the paint did not go through the backing of the final skirt.

 While I was waiting to get the skirt back I cut the red chevron into 6 inch wide strips and used the full length of the fabric.  I ended up having to match up the chevron pattern and attaching the strips until it was around 220 inches long.  Then I used the ruffler foot to create the ruffled look.  Then once I had the burlap piece back I sewed the ruffled chevron on to the outside edge and also attached a red chevron S.  

Finally I laid a large piece of muslin fabric down and put the burlap piece on top.  Then I cut out another circular shape, which would serve as the backing of the tree skirt.  I made sure that the right sides were together and pinned the pieces in place.  

This was the most difficult part to sew, because there was so much fabric and I didn't want it to slide or bunch up in places.  I left a small space to turn the tree skirt right side out and then finished off the edging.  I was pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out.  If I were to do it again I might have bought a bit more chevron and made the ruffle a little wider.  I also decided not to add velcro closures, because  thought it would easily wrap around itself when under the tree.