why i love pinterest: diy ruffled tree skirt

If you don't Pinterest, then you don't, uh, waste a whole lotta time.  But while hours can slip by while I peruse the goodness of Pinterest, I sometimes actually MAKE something I pin!  Which, if you are familiar with Pinterest, is a pretty awesome feeling.  Since I like to take full advantage of when my parents come and visit, I thought my mom and I could knock out a tree skirt I've been eyeing for a while.  Let me tell you, it was fun and pretty easy, especially if your mom helps.  And it turned out just as pretty as the original tutorial.

If you want one of your own, you'll need:

3-4 yards fabric of your choice
4 1/2' x 4 1/2' square of canvas
glue gun
one thousand glue sticks
sharp scissors
rotary cutter
yard stick
pencil

I chose to make mine colorful and fun rather than try for elegant since it was going in the family room.  These retro Santas really called to me.  I also picked up a cream fabric with gold sparkles for alternate rows.

Start by cutting your fabric into 3 inch strips.  Or around there.  You can use scissors, but that might take you forever.  You could also use your mom to rotary cut out the strips.  (thanks, mom!)

We cut up 4 yards of fabric, but had a lot left over.  So I would start with 2-3, and go from there. 

Now grab your canvas.  I used a painter's fabric dropcloth.  Cut out your 4 1/2' x 4 1/2' square.  Now fold into a fourth. 

And now fold that over one more time.

Now you want to cut a small hole at the tip (for going around the trunk).  I didn't get a shot of this, sorry.  Not sure how that happened.  And I was just going to cut a random curve at the bottom, but my mom got all fancy and mathy by using the yard stick and pencil to make a perfect circle.

She put the end of the yard stick at the point and put the pencil tip at one of the folded corners.  Then she pushed the yard stick with her pencil, keeping her pencil tip at the same measurement on the yard stick, and leaving a mark, all while holding down the other end of the yard stick at the point.

If that didn't make sense, call my mom.  Now cut along the line your mom just made for you.  Don't ask me why I'm cutting like my thumb is in traction. 

I also failed to get a picture of this, but you will need to cut an opening in your completed circle so you can actually put it around the base of the tree.  Unless you are planning on using it around a Festivus pole.  In which case you could just slide it on over.  Anyway, cut a straight line from your center hole all the way to the edge.  Now break out your glue gun and get ruffling!  Starting at the bottom of the skirt, make about a 6 inch line of glue, and then lay your fabric strips on top, pinching as you go.  You want to be pinching on top of your line of glue.

Go all the way around, leaving a bit of an edge to tuck over the end and glue down.

Now if you are using alternating fabrics, grab your other strips and start at the begining, a couple inches above your last row.

This was about the time mom abandoned me to help Fletcher make a tree skirt for his little tree.  No ruffles with his, just a lot of cars and felt balls.

Keep on ruffling until you reach your trunk hole.  Once I had my last little row put on, I glued under the canvas at the top to keep it from fraying.  On the original tutorial, they had you also glue on ribbon so you could tie it.  I didn't feel it was necessary, so I skipped it.  But go right ahead if you really want to glue some more! 

I think it turned out pretty cute. 

Be sure to by the glue sticks in bulk.  You'll go through a lot.  Be patient about the ruffling- it can take a bit to get into the swing of it.  You may also lose a few fingerprints if you aren't careful.  But hey, that might come in handy, right?