One of my favorite holiday traditions at home is setting up the family Christmas tree: my brothers and I bring everything out, move furniture to make room, unpack the ornaments from the old box with “bacon cheese” written on it (oh, how I miss the taste of bacon cheese on white bread!) Christmas music playing, my mother watching from her favorite chair, my father tactically staying out of the way. As an annual ritual worthy of its name, things are repeated, almost verbatim, every year: the good, the fun, and even the bad.
Last year, I felt trully fed up of arguing over the tree base scratching the wooden floor, and thought we could do without this particular detail in the tradition! All our previous rugs are somehow gone, including the first one I remember from my childhood, that my grandfather had crocheted in a mustard and brown yarn (yes, both my grandfather and father had learned how to knit at one point, albeit neither with much success in their final products!) So, my goal for this year was to make a tree skirt to remedy the situation.
Here is how you can make one too.
You will need:
- Two pieces of fabric, one for the top and one for the backing, cut in a circle that will be right for your tree. They should be large enough for the edges to show, sticking outside the tree branches.
- Felt sheets in brown and grey/green (for houses), 2-3 shades of green (for trees), white (for snow), pale yellow or off-white (for windows).
- Fabric glue, scissors or x-acto knife, pen & paper for designing the templates.
- A kitty, or three (optional).
Cut your two main circles and sew them together, right sides facing, leaving an 8-inch opening. Turn inside-out and top stitch around the entire perimeter, closing the opening and giving your circle a nice thin edge.
(sorry, no photo for this stage!)
Make a template with paper or cardboard for the houses and trees. You can make them all one size, or make 2-3 different sizes. (I made 1 size for the houses, and 2 for the trees).
Draw the outline on the felt sheets, as tight as you can to avoid wasting fabric.
Cut out all shapes, including curly lines for the snow on the roofs and chimneys, and little squares for doors and windows (I used left overs from the houses to make the tree bark, and doors & chimneys for the houses.)
Make as many as you will need to space around the edges without it being too crowded or sparse (eye ball it. Or have a kitty to help.)
Using fabric glue, put together all your trees and houses before attaching them too the fabric, it will make the final step faster and more enjoyable.
Arrange all trees and houses around the edges, and glue. Done!
