I have a Christmas confession to make—I’ve never had a tree skirt before. I don’t mean I’ve never made a tree skirt, I mean I’ve never had one in general. Shocking? Maybe, but I guess we just weren’t “tree skirt people” at my house growing up. We usually built up a wall of presents (some real and some “filler” boxes) around the base and called it a day. This year I thought I’d jump on the tree skirt train and start with a few easy no-sew options for my first year. The good news is that these really are so easy to make, but the bad news is that (unless you have three trees) you have to pick just one!
OK, here are the overall directions for your tree skirt. I’ll give you the variation details for each specific one below.
Supplies:
-fabric (felt or faux fur in our case)
-hot glue gun
-matching ribbon
-fabric scissors
-ruler and marker
1.) First we are going to cut a big circle out of our fabric. An easy way to get an even circle is to make a big square that is at least the width of your tree skirt (I have a small tree so I needed at least 40″ wide). Fold the square in half to make a long rectangle (20″ x 40″), fold that rectangle in half at the middle vertical line (20″ x 20″). When using thin fabric, like felt, you can even make another fold to make your square a triangle like I did in the first picture (the fur is a little too thick to do that many folds). No matter how many times you fold your fabric, just use a ruler and measure out half your circle diameter (so 20″ for me) from the center of your folded square all the way across your folded fabric. Cut through the layers across the marked line with fabric scissors, and you should have a circle when you unfold it.
2.) To make the small middle circle for your tree trunk, fold your fabric circle in half and place a round can or jar halfway across the middle point of your fold. Trace the half circle and cut with fabric scissors.
3.) Leave the fabric still folded and cut the fold open on just one of the sides. This opening will allow you to place your skirt over the base of the tree.
4.) To make small ties that will keep your skirt closed once it’s on the tree base, cut 6 pieces of 6″ ribbon. Use a hot glue gun to glue them to the underside of your skirt in sets of 2.
Those are the basic instructions. Let’s get to the details!
1. POM-POM SKIRT. For the pom-pom skirt, all you have to do is follow the basic directions and then hot glue pom-pom trim around the edge of the skirt. I love jumbo pom-poms, so I bought the biggest trim I could find at the local craft store.
2. SCALLOPED SKIRT. To make the scalloped edge skirt, I traced the bottom half of a round item (like a ribbon spool) all the way around the edge of the skirt once I had cut my large circle. I thought it would be fun to add a white tip to the edge of the scallops to make it look like little snow banks, so once all the grey scallops were cut, I traced the edge onto some white felt as well. After cutting the white scallops, I used fabric glue (although the hot glue gun would work too) to secure the snow tips onto the grey.
3. FUR SKIRT. The fur skirt is the easiest one in that you have the least amount of things to add to it, but you have to be a little slower when cutting out your circles to keep the length of the fur in tact around the edges. I used the folding method in step 1 to mark my cutting path, but I didn’t cut all the layers at once like I did with the felt. I kept flipping and refolding the fur so I could mark all the way around the circle, and then only cut one layer deep making very small cuts as I went. Try and keep the bottom blade of your scissors scraping as close to the backing of the fur as possible and that will also keep you from chopping the ends of your fur short. After you make all your cuts into the fur, take it outside and give it a good shake so it won’t shed any more fur bits later.
It was kind of bananas how quickly I could make all three skirts. So these really are fast and easy options for your tree. Elsie’s tree agreed to model the skirts for our pictures, isn’t it just the cutest?! Since I only needed one skirt for my tree, I got into the Christmas spirit and gave out the other two to very good homes. Can you guess which one I picked (hint: answer is here)? Which one would you make for your tree? xo. Laura
Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
49 Comments
So cute! Great ideas. Thank you for sharing!
http://www.endlesshouseaffair.com
My guess is you picked fur (I think it would look so cute with your white fireplace & dark flors… Yes I stalk your Instagram). That would be my pick 🙂
SO cute Laura. Thanks for sharing!
Lovely post.
Thank you for sharing!
http://kadinamoda.com/Kategori/Moda
What a perfect post – I love all three of these (especially the pom-poms)! I was just thinking about updating my tree skirt!
Marianne
thematimes.com
these are adorable! i think i’m going to diy the pom pom skirt this weekend!
These are really great.
My guess is also that you picked fur! 🙂
This is such a great idea. We only have a mini tree this year because of lack of room in our studio but I might try this in a mini version to cover up the ugly pan we have right now.
I have been working on my first gift guide and would love for you guys to take a look. Any input would be great. Happy holidays!
http://www.southernfolly.com
I am going to do this! My first attempt at a ABM project in like, 4 years of reading!
I love these! I bet you picked the fur!
i just love the pom pom tree skirt! 🙂
How cute! I was just thinking about making a tree skirt. How many yards of felt did you need and which craft store in town did you shop at?
From one crazy cat lady to another: how do you keep your kitties from assuming the tree skirt is actually their personal toy/blanket? I love the pom poms, but my Pearl would never allow them to stay attached!
I make a fur tree skirt last year! Love it!
Great ideas, particularly since our tree is currently skirt-less. 😛
Well, some rolls are wider than others, but as long as you get a square that is the width of your skirt (so 40×40″ for me) you should be fine 🙂
Have fun!
Laura
Well, my babies are pretty good about not tearing things up or eating things they shouldn’t (except for human food), but so far they have taken a few naps on the skirt or climbed under it. Once I put down more presents though there’s not much room to do those things…if they bite the tree or ornaments we just spray them with a spray bottle and that usually stops them 🙂
Laura
Where is that wrapping paper from!?
I check your blog everyday. And when I check for the giveaways I find it closed. Is it open for certain people? At a certain time?
Hi Rosene! They are posted at different times each day but we are posting some of them really early in the morning to accommodate our international readers. They are open for anyone but they close after 3 hours. We still have 9 left in case you missed your chance. 🙂 -Jacki
Thanks, Laura!
These are all adorable! I really like the third one. I’m obsessed with all things fuzzy. <3
XO
Love your theme/colors!! Super cute idea & way cuter than the store bought ones. Thanks for sharing! Xo
I think the scalloped one is my favorite! All three are such fun options, though.
I love Christmas skirts and Christmas decorating in general. These are great ideas, thanks for sharing. I like to change our tree’s skirt every year, so these are great to start off.
XOXO JuJu
http://www.jujusmoments.com
https://www.facebook.com/jujusmoments
So pretty! x
Blog|Marjorie
I remember we had a really ugly tree skirt when I was grown up, but these are so cute and chic! I love the pom pom one – it’s so fun! 🙂
I will try it this year! Thanks for the ideas.
GORGEOUS! I’m obsessed with all three of these.
CONFESSION: I’ve never had a tree skirt either! This is a great tutorial, I’ll be using this for my first tree skirt.
I think sewing a Tree skirt is not an easy task. I can only assume of such task, so I let this idea go. But you know somewhere I know that I need to find the way to tackle this issue. Sewing a Tree skirt could ruin my day but I know that decoration is important and I need it to decorate my Christmas tree. Well! I’ll give a try one more time. Glad to read your blog 🙂
the last one is my favorite!
xx nikki
http://www.dream-in-neon.com
They’re all so beautiful! I can’t decide which one I want to do! (Because I’m definitely going to have to make one of these.)
Adorable ideas!
aniqadreams.blogspot.com
Great post and I will do it! Pom-Poms here we go. Your photography is beautiful.
What a cool idea! I love the skirt with the pom poms!
I love these. Very cute.
I just sewed a gorgeous white ruffled one, but I’m in love with that faux fur one! Maybe for the next one…?
I’ve never heard of a tree skirt before (maybe they haven’t really reached the UK yet?) but I am so tempted to try to make one! I just need to find a haberdashery…
Jen
yessss the fur tree skirt!!! I love it!! I want one so badly and now you have me thinking about making one!
<3
heather
fashionistanygirl.com
That is so cute and elegant. I especially love how its no sew! I would really love if you checked out my website. It’s a DIY website!
I made the pom pom skirt and love it! Great instructions and so easy 🙂
These are super cute and I love that they’re no sew options! Ive never had a tree skirt either. Thanks for sharing!!
I’m 4 years late, but loving this! I am working on the scalloped one right now, and trying to understand how you got the white scallops on the top of the gray to look so perfect! Any further tips??
Where did you get the large gray felt for the scalloped skirt???
I came across this post on Pinterest as I was looking for an easy DIY tree skirt how-to! I purchased my felt and pom-poms yesterday and in less than 15 minutes, I completed it today! I love it! Thanks for your post!
I would love to know the Pom Pom size on that skirt as well as where to order the trim from.
Thanks
Me, too! The Pom-Pom size looks perfect, but hard to guess the size when trying to order!
Hi Deb! JOANN has some good options (https://www.joann.com/search?q=pom+pom+trim) Laura picked the largest size they had. 🙂