Christmas Tree Skirt

Recently, it has really been heavy on my heart to do more homemade items and made from scratch meals for my family. More so, I'm tired of paying for all the mass produced items and pre-packaged products in the store when I can just take the time to do it myself at home and save the bucks. Yes, I understand it is easier to just pay the extra bucks and have it already done and sometimes it is worth it, however, for a majority of the time when you can't find what you are really looking for, you have to opt for making it yourself.

It started just before Christmas.  My beautiful tree skirt was ruined the Christmas before when it decided it wanted to drink the water the tree was drinking it was too late when I found it :(  After searching and searching, I decided the one tree skirt I wanted was a little steep at $100 (darn Pottery Barn).  Um, yeah, not for a tree skirt. I looked around the wonderful world of Pinterest and found my inspiration. Here is what you need:

1 5x8 dropcloth (I got mine at Home Depot for under $2)

2 yards of 2 different fabrics (I purchased mine from hobby Lobby on sale for about $3/yd. on sale)

2 yards of burlap

hot glue gun and hot glue

scissors (or a cutting mat and cutter for a more precise cut-although it doesn't need to be perfect)

Cut the fabric into 2.5 inch strips. I did this easiest by folding over the fabric to the thickest I could cut it with my blade and sliced away. 

I then took the drop cloth and laid my old skirt over the cloth, traced around it and cut it a little larger than what my old one was.  With the new tree stand legs, the old skirt didn't cover it all that well and I wanted to make sure I had a large enough skirt this time.  After my drop cloth was cut, all there was to do was to hot glue the strips to the cloth.  I ruffled the fabric as I went and also hot glued the pieces where they came together so it would be floppy all over the place. You also want to make sure you are only gluing a little at a time, 4 to 5 inches, and make sure you press the fabric/burlap firmly into the glue and hold it for a few seconds before moving on.

 I was quite happy with the finished product, although, now I wish I would have put the lines a little closer together to make it look a little fuller.  SO, I went back and bought another yard of each color fabric (I already had extra burlap) and plan to add another row in between each of the existing rows for next year.  

The big bonus was that this tree skirt, even with the extra fabric I bought to add into the one you see here, cost about $30.  A little more than some of the store bought ones BUT not only did I get exactly what I wanted, but I get to say that I made it!