Make It Monday: No-Sew Ruffled Christmas Tree Skirt

Oh boy, alliterative, themed titles. Part of me would like to make this a thing. It will keep my somewhat on task and away from an online diary. I will ignore the fact that it’s cheesy. Here’s what I’m thinking:

Make It Monday (What I’ve been making)
Tunes Tuesday (What I’ve been listening to, Running Playlists, etc.
Workout Wednesday (Run)
Thirsty Thursday (Food & Drink)
Frandom Friday (Random)


I missed Monday, but I’ve got something I want to share, so we’re doing it a day late. When Oscar and I went home for Thanksgiving, I helped my sister-in-law, Mandy, make this tree skirt. I liked it so much that I made my own. I didn't want to copy her exactly, so I went with red linen.

It looks like a flamenco dancer's skirt.

I'd like to make a couple of edits to the website's instructions. First, Mandy bought a 4'x6' canvas drop cloth from Lowe's, rather than canvas from a fabric store. You won't miss the six inches and it was only $5. I copied her on that. I skipped the no-fray glue on the canvas, however. I got some strings, but I just pulled them off. About half-way through, I did fold over and glue the edge around the inner circle. I was afraid it was going to rip every time I lifted the skirt. Mandy and I both used a rotary cutter and ruler to make our strips. I don't know if it saved time or was better in any way. I'm sure our strips were more even than if we'd used scissors. Also, looking at the pictures online compared to how mine turned out, I'm pretty sure their strips are wider than two inches. Also, they don't mention how they finish off the center of the skirt. You'll notice that the edges where the strips are glued aren't all that attractive. Plus, the last strip is unlikely to be even. Mine was quite oval compared to the cut in the canvas. I ended up using a four inch strip of fabric. I left a two inch overhang off the top, and glued it so it looked about even. Then I folded the overhang under and glued it to the underside. It's a lovely clean top.

It took forever, by the way. It took me at least three hours (not at once) to cut the fabric. Then three evenings of hot-gluing. Working with a second person cuts the time a lot. Together, Mandy and I got most of her skirt done in one evening. If you were interested enough to invest the time, the finished product is well worth it. Cost is reasonable too. I'm only counting fabric because I had everything else. I had a 40% off coupon to Joann, so the linen was $25. The drop cloth was $5. So, a $30 tree skirt. I wouldn't have paid that much for any skirt I've seen in a store. But I'm pretty sure to buy this skirt made would be over $100. It'd have to be for all the time involved. Actually, $100 would be really cheap. But yeah, I wouldn't have paid for it.

And now a picture of my cat, Euler.