Yesterday I revealed my Christmas tree and promised a quick tutorial on the linen ruffle tree skirt. I won’t make this post long because I basically just followed Marian’s tutorial here. She does a great job of walking you through the steps so I’ll just add a few of my own tips.
I cut a piece of drop cloth in a curvy circle because I wanted my skirt to have a bit more interest than a circle skirt. It turned out fine, but if I were to do it again I would just cut it in an exact circle. The edge of my linen already had a nice fray to it so I matched the fray with other pieces of linen on the outer edge. I didn’t bother fraying all the edges.
A to Z TV
Here you can see the shape I was going for. Once around the tree, that shape didn’t look as great. (Eowyn has to get in on ALL of my projects!)
Marian recommends pushing out a bead of hot glue no longer than 12 inches and gathering your material in the glue as you go. I found it easier to just fold and glue, fold and glue. The hot glue soaks through the layers of material nicely and holds it all in place. When I would come to the end of a ruffle (see picture below)…
I would simply fold my next length of linen over….
..and glue in place. This isn’t necessarily a “dirt cheap” project. I already had the drop cloth on hand but a drop cloth costs $10. The linen is about $5-6/yd and you will need 4 yards. I spent about $25 on the skirt (and numerous hours and even more numerous hot glue burns), but I think it was worth it.
The tree skirt also makes a beautiful cape! Not that I wore it around my house for awhile or anything *wink*.
You still have time to make one this weekend and I highly recommend doing so!
Wow, love love love!
I’m making one myself this week. Hopefully it’s just as pretty!
Beth, it’s absolutely beautiful! Great job! Love it! You have amazing talent!
LOVE IT!!!!
It looks beautiful! I just followed Marion’s tutorial myself and made a similar version for my tree two weeks ago. It turned out gorgeous, and well worth every hot glue burn. While I didn’t put mine on as a cape, I was tempted to tie it around my waist and wear it as a fluffy Gone With The Wind sort of skirt. 🙂
Oooh, I see you have a gift for my daughter under your tree! She’ll be so pleased “Aunty Beth” is sending her something 😉
Your tree skirt looks amazing with the setting/theme you have this year!
Oh Beth your tree is gorgeous! Love your tree skirt too 😉
You made it look so easy!
Pretty, pretty! I have a quilted tree skirt that was my mom’s, but if I were looking to make a new one, I think I’d go this route! Question: did you take a photo of yourself wearing this as a cape? You’re so pretty that I’ll bet it looked wonderful!
Another question: do you put gifts out before Christmas? When my boys were as small as yours, we left our tree bare in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Luckily, we had a big living room with lots of floor space, so we set up a Lionel train set around the tree. Then Jack and the boys starting giving me Department 56 buildings to create a village by the train tracks. Oh, how I wish there had been digital cameras back then–I so wish I had some good photos of that sweet train!
Hi Richella! I did not take a pic of myself twirling around draped in my Christmas tree skirt but I did indeed feel pretty wearing it :). And no, I don’t usually put gifts out before Christmas but decided to wrap a few for staging purposes. Growing up, we used to have a train that ran around the Christmas tree and I loved it!
Love how it turned out Beth! The tree, the skirt, the presents, everything is just gorgeous!!
So, so pretty, Beth! And to think that I just caved and but a $30 tree skirt at Target this year. It’s fine, but the ruffled one is so adorable! Your tree is beautiful by the way!
very cute! love that there’s no sewing involved. perfect for me to do that and one more thing i would like to make your garland around your tree out of circle.
Your tree is beautiful and so is that tree skirt! Wondering if I can find the time this weekend to give it a try! I love anything that I don’t have to sew. 😉
Jeanine
I love it! How many sticks of hot glue did it take? LOL!
Love yours, it looks so good! 🙂 I JUST made one for myself too from her tutorial! I actually used muslin for my ruffles though which made it super cheap and I love it. Check it out!
http://jjreynoldsfamily.blogspot.com/2011/12/ruffle-tree-skirt-plus-peek-at-my.html
Just beautiful! LOVE it!
The tree skirt and your tree look beautiful!
Love this!! My only concern is with it being linen, when it sits in storage the rest of the year will it be so wrinkled next year that it is unusable? I assume, I could just wash it and then try to iron it….but I’m not good at ironing ruffles…..especially the way they are layered. But I love it!! Oh, decisions, decisions!!! 🙂
What?! That is so cute!
Hot glue and fabric. I love it!! 🙂
This looks great and $25 isn’t too bad. I love the natural color and how it complements your tree and other home decor!
Love the tree skirt and the pretty packages and I knew little Eowyn would be there somewhere.So cute!
For a day that I’m not very motivated, this just may be what inspires me 🙂
Beth it looks adorable I love how you’ve wrapped your gifts too!
It looks great, Beth! I must confess that I tied mine on as a skirt. I couldn’t resist those ruffles.
LOVE it! Mine is a dropcloth too…without the ruffles.
I see your icicle ornaments too. I have the same ones. 😉