What is more luxurious than a white faux fur tree skirt under a white flocked tree? It looks like a fluffy, white layer of snow! Glam, glam, glam!
Growing up, my grandparents had a luscious white flocked tree. It was decorated with big red velvet poinsettias and birds (the reason our trees have at least one bird on them). There was one special bird that chirped randomly. I can remember trying to find which one was chirping. I can also remember thinking that tree was the most beautiful tree EVER! Luckily, my sweet husband has already indulged in my fantasy of a white tree of deliciousness.
Now I just needed to add the layer of fluffy snow underneath.
I could buy a tree skirt, but I want one that is as soft as it looks. Yes, I want to be able to pet my tree skirt. If that’s a condition, well then, I have it. I looked at premade tree skirts, but unless I spend more than I want to, they are not soft enough. I looked at fabric, and found some great options at JoAnn’s, but wasn’t sold on them. I then had the thought to use a faux fur throw blanket! Knowing Home Goods has a great selection (they are everywhere), I asked my husband to see what he could find and look what he came home with!
I love the texture of the front and back. For $17 I have all my fabric.
Now came the hard decisions… trim or no trim and if trim, what kind? I went exploring at my local craft stores and found many great options. I decided to layer up with these three: Feather Trim and larger rope trim from JoAnn’s and rhinestone trim from Hobby Lobby.
I figured out the approximate amount of trim I would need by figuring out the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 50”. I needed 4 3/4 yards, so I got 5 yards of each trim. I also went back and purchased each yardage at a time using a 40% off coupon. I don’t always worry about that, but this time it was worth it.
Each layer of trim increases the cost of the project, so be aware of your budget when selecting trim. I purchased the rhinestone trim from Hobby Lobby because it was much less expensive there than at JoAnn’s. I did find JoAnn’s to have a better selection of trims in general.
My original thought was to fold the blanket in fourths, but decided I didn’t trust myself to cut through 8 layers of fabric, so I laid the blanket out flat and thought I would use the old tree skirt as a pattern. The problem, this blanket has a seam sewn about 2” in around the edges. So, I decided I needed to make a pattern.
(Yep, I could have just unpicked that pesky seam, but I didn’t think of that at the time.)
I measured between the seams and figured out I could cut a 45” circle.
I taped two pieces of butcher block paper together and made a 46” square. I then folded that square in fourths. I then taped butcher paper to the mat with inner corner (all the folds) to my cutting mat as shown. Half of 45” is 22 1/2”, so I tied a rope around a pencil that stretched from the inner corner to 22 1/2” and traced a quarter of a circle. I repeated this for the small, inner circle at 1 1/2”.
Cut the pattern, pin to blanket as shown and cut blanket.
(You’ll want to vacuum or sweep)
Remove throw backing and set aside. To make things easier, keep face down. If you are adding trim, continue as follows. If you are not adding trim, skip ahead to add backing to top layer.
I then pinned and sewed the feather and rope trims together. First, I folded over and glued the ends of each. Yep, that’s how I roll. But, seriously, the rope is too thick to sew over. You could hand sew, but I glued them together with E6000. It’s washable!
You’ll also notice that I had to repin the trims together so I could actually sew. Ha!
With top layer still facing up, pin trim along the edge face down and towards the center of the skirt.
***Important: add four 6” pieces of small rope trim or ribbon in a loop along one edge of opening. Space about 6” apart and 1 5/8” from top and bottom edges.***
Sew trim pieces to top layer.
The right way to do the next step:
Pin bottom layer to top layer rights sides together (top layer facing up with bottom layer on top, facing down.
Sew together, leaving opening, about 8”, along straight edge (not the straight edge that has the loops).
Through opening, turn skirt right side out.
Hand stitch opening closed.
The way I did the next step:
I admit, by this time, I was tired of sewing. I’m a perfectionist and slow. Also, the larger rope trim makes a statement, but is also harder to work with.
So, I got lazy and glued the back to the front with the trim sewn on. I even used E6000 glue instead of fabric glue because it dries faster. It was after I used it that I learned it’s washable – BONUS! I figured it didn’t really matter if it was washable, because I am not likely to need to was the tree skirt.
I turned the front face down. This leaves the back side of the trims and front fabric facing up. I lined up the back side fabric (facing up) and ran a bead of glue about 10 – 12” in length along the back of the trim. I then folded the bottom fabric over about 1/2” and pinned it to the front to hold in place while drying.
Once dry, I removed the pins. Voila!
Add buttons. I went with 1 1/4” rhinestone buttons. I also think it would be fabulous to purchase a button kit and make fur buttons!
Add rhinestone trim along top of rope trim using E6000. Allow to dry.
Just a word about sizing. In general, you will want your tree skirt to be about the same size as the widest part of your tree. Within an inch or two bigger or smaller. However, like all rules, it’s your tree and you can go as big or small as you’d like! That’s why you’re going to make it yourself.
Also, you can make this project as inexpensive as $17. Each layer of trim adds to the cost.
ENJOY!
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