Oh Christmas Tree: Sew a DIY Tree Skirt

I started out with a king sized sheet because I looked online for a cheap, ugly tree skirt and those things are expensive! So sheet it was. I used a yard stick to make little notches all the way around to guide me while I cut. This was very hard to do with a two toddlers running around, so I recommend you wait til naptime if you have any of those...

Photo Credit: Woodlawn Lane

Then I cut out a line and a little circle for the three trunk.

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Then came the crazy part. I ended up doing the ruffles three different ways! First, I started out with a strip of felt and glued individual ruffles. I was just hot gluing everywhere because it didn't really like to stick to the felt for some reason, and wound up burning myself like 8,000 times.

Photo Credit: Woodlawn Lane

Once all of my fingertips were burnt and bubbling, I decided I needed to try something different. I sewed a line down one side on my sewing machine, and tried to pull one string to scrunch it up. It worked, but I got very frustrated after about 3 or 4 broken threads. The stitches were just too tight, and the thread was not strong enough if was anything less than super super super careful.

Photo Credit: Woodlawn Lane

I threaded a pretty big needle and doubled the thread. (Putting the needle in the middle of a very long piece of thread, then tied a big knot between the two ends...you wind up with a long, double thread.) Then I started at one end and stitched over-under about a centimeter long all the way down one side, then scrunched. SOOOOO much easier!

Photo Credit: Woodlawn Lane

Now that I had a good scrunching method down, I got to work gluing.

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After LOTS AND LOTS of gluing (seriously, stock up on hot glue sticks for this project) I was finished!

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I am actually not all that happy with how it turned out because I was rushing and also doing it with my kids running around. If I had a whole day to myself with nothing else to do, it would have turned out lots better. But it's good enough for now! I love the idea, and will probably do a "nice" one next year.

Photo Credit: Woodlawn Lane

Here is a peek at some presents!

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Our tree is pretty sparsely decorated this year. I thought minimalist would be the way to go in case some little hands knocked it over or something.

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Also, my star was too heavy for the top branch. :-( Next year I will rig up a dowel on the back of it for support. I can't wait for the kids to open presents!

Photo Credit: Woodlawn Lane