Last year, Hubs and I wrapped a blanket around the bottom of our Christmas tree. It worked fine and looked okay I guess, but it wasn’t all that festive or pretty. (It was however, very Linus-esque of us.) Plus, it meant we were without our couch blanket for a month. Yikes.

So this year, I decided I could tackle making one myself. I’d see this pin and fallen in love, instantly, with the ruffles. I love all things ruffles. Seriously, ask Hubs. And the burlap was also awesome. Plus, this tree skirt had no-sewing required, which made it extra friendly to me, since I’m not so handy at my machine yet.

I wanted to use an old tree skirt like the original tutorial did, but the old one that my mom had promised me had gone missing. So I got an old table cloth from my mom and some red fabric from a discount rack at Hobby Lobby.

The burlap was from my parents’ basement, the same stuff I used for this pillow.

To get started, I cut the burlap into 4 inch strips and the red fabric into 2 inch strips. The original uses all the same width strips, but I liked the varied look a little better.

I did use a ruler, but I wasn’t especially careful with the scissors, so there is some definitely room for error in this project.

I did this on the living room floor (where I do most of my craft projects), but I’d suggest a table because it will feel better on your back by the end of it. Trust me. (It’s not a hard project, but it’s also not a short one.)

So, once I had all my strips, I trimmed my table cloth a bit and cut a slit and a hole in the middle to make it easy to wrap around the tree.

Then I laid out my strips to see if I’d have enough to go around. It’s a guesstimate for sure, but it gave me an idea.

Then it was time to start gluing.

Note: Please promise me that if you do this project, you’ll use an old pencil or plastic knife or something to use to press the fabric down into the glue. Hot glue WILL (I promise you!) seep through the holes in the burlap and burn your finger. Hot glue burns are not fun.

When you start make your ruffles, just glue down the edge and then slide over a few inches and make a fold and glue that down to make your first ruffle. It’s hard to describe the best way to do this and the stiffness of your fabric will probably make a difference in what technique works best for you.

 

When you get the end of your strip, just start a new one, working around the edge, making ruffles, as you go.

Oh, and yes, I used an old magazine on a rubber tray to keep from getting any hot glue icky-ness (drips! strings!) on the fabric.

Anyway, after the first round of the red fabric, I started in on the burlap. I found it helpful to glue down the entire edge to keep the table cloth from showing.

It’s much harder to work with, in my experience, but still doable. I found that gluing down the entire folded over strip gave me a better looking ruffle, and it helped make sure the table cloth wasn’t visible underneath.

Then just keep going until you reach the center. And then glue down any parts that are sticking up funny with a couple dabs of glue.

That’s it. Pretty easy, huh?

I love how it turned out, all rustic and simple, but yet not without a certain charm. I purposely made mine with fairly subtle ruffles because Hubs isn’t really a ruffles fan and I wanted him to like it too, which he does. (Score!)

Plus, it’s just a lot nicer than the blanket…and it’s nicer on the couch with the blanket when I’m curled up admiring our tree.

Oh, and that green layer on the outside? It’s the tree skirt my mom wanted to give me for this project. I found it in a box of other Christmas stuff we had gotten together after last year. So I just tucked it underneath for an extra layer and a little splash of green. (although it looks blue here…)

What Christmas projects are you guys working on lately? Anything fun?