Make a Christmas Tree Skirt in Under an Hour With No Needle or Thread
In just an hour you can make a tree skirt with some felt and a glue gun. Felt is an ideal material for use with a glue gun because it works well with appliqué techniques (no raveling edges!). The following instructions are for a fairly large skirt (70 inches in diameter) to fit around a large tree stand. You can decrease the measurements for a smaller stand and/or a smaller skirt.
1. Purchase felt off the bolt at a fabric store. Wool or wool blend is much nicer than acrylic felt, and worth the extra money. To make a skirt of four panels in two alternating colors, you will need 1.5 yards of each color. (This assumes that the bolt width is a minimum of 45 inches.)
2. Cut a length of string, twine, or dental floss 40 inches long. With your glue gun, put a dab of hot glue toward the bottom of a pencil (just above where the pencil begins to taper to the point) and wrap the string around once or twice. Starting from where the string is attached to the pencil, measure 7 inches of string and tie a knot there. Then measure an additional 28 inches of string (for a total of 35 inches of string) and tie a second knot at that point.
3. Lay a piece of felt out on the floor or a work surface. Ask a friend to hold the first knot at one corner of the fabric, and draw an arc from that point. Have your friend hold the second knot at the same corner, and draw another arc. Repeat this process with your friend holding the knots at the diagonal corner. Then repeat twice again with the second piece of fabric.
4. Cut along the penciled arcs to create four quarter-circles of felt with the points cut away. Lay the pieces out, with colors alternating, to create a circle. Make sure that the right edge of each piece overlaps on top of the left edge of the adjacent piece by about an inch. Because of the overlap, the hole at the center (where the tree trunk will be) will not be a perfect circle, but this adds to the homemade character of your creation.
5. Working several inches at a time, shoot a line of hot glue along the left edge of piece B, and press the right edge of piece A on top of it as you go. Repeat this twice, so that the right edge of piece B is glued onto the left edge of piece C, and the right edge of piece C is glued onto the left edge of piece D. Do not glue the edge of piece D to the edge of piece A. You will use this opening to wrap the skirt around the tree; when it is in place, it will look like a complete circle.
6. Use hot glue to attach decorations. Suggestions: round ornaments or polka dots cut from felt scraps; buttons; pre-cut felt snowflakes or candy canes (available at some craft stores); felt packages with glued ribbons; peppermint candies (still in their wrappings)...
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