How To Make A Tree Skirt

Learn how to make a tree skirt with this step-by-step sewing tutorial! Beautiful details, like the knife-pleat ruffle, make this a one-of-a-kind project!

Hey friends!  For today’s post, I’m sharing a detailed Christmas tree skirt sewing tutorial.  I know, it seems too early, but I wanted to give all of you some time to make this great tree skirt before you put your tree up!  And no, I don’t have my tree up already, these are pictures from last year’s tree!

Learn how to make a tree skirt with this detailed sewing tutorial!

There are a couple of details that I especially love about this tree skirt.

The first is the knife-pleat ruffle around the outer edge.  It’s a detail that shows even if the rest of the tree skirt is covered with presents!

christmas-tree-skirt

I also love the “frogs” with buttons that close the tree skirt.  You could also switch out the “frogs” and make ties to close the tree skirt if you prefer.

frog

How To Make A Tree Skirt

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Update:  I have created a video for this tutorial, and have also included the written instructions below the video.

Materials needed:  

2 yards of fabric for skirt- (You  may need more fabric if you use a fabric with a print or pattern.)
1 yard of fabric for ruffle
Covered button kit size 36
1 1/2 yards of lining or fabric for reverse side – 54″ wide
Thread to match fabric
That Purple Thang
Hook and loop sew on tape

Instructions:

*I used a 1/2″ seam allowance.

1. Cut out 8 triangular pieces with these dimensions –

tree-skirt-pattern

2.  With right sides together, sew 8 pieces together leaving the last two not sewn together.  Iron seams open.

pieces-seamed-together

3.  Knife-pleat ruffle – Cut out 3″ strips and seam together.  The length of the strip of fabric will need to end up being about 3 x the circumference of the tree skirt.  My fabric was 54″ wide, so I cut 9 of the 3″ strips.  (It might be helpful to read my How To Make A Knife-Pleat Ruffle post if you’ve never made this type of ruffle before.)  With the wrong sides together, serge the long edges of the fabric strip.  Pleat the fabric strip to make the ruffle.  Here’s a video I created showing how to easily pleat the fabric to make the knife-pleat ruffle –

4.  Sew the finished knife-pleat ruffle to the right side of the outside edge of the tree skirt.
sewing-ruffle-to-skirt
5.  Lay the skirt right side down onto the lining or fabric that will be the reverse side of the tree skirt.  Cut out lining using the skirt as the pattern.  Pin both layers together, and sew the front and back sides together around the outer edge and the side opening.  Do not sew the small hole in the center.
sewing-front-to-back
6.  Turn right side out and iron.
7.  Top stitch the outer edge.
topstitching
8.  To make the binding for the center whole, cut a strip of fabric that is 2 1/2″ x 30″.  Iron in half along the length with wrong sides together.  Serge the two long sides together, and turn under the short sides.  Hand sew the short sides together.
9.  Sew the binding strip to the wrong side of the center hole.
binding
10. Turn binding toward the front side and top stitch to the front side.
top-stitching-binding
11.  Make 3 “frogs” by cutting out 6 pieces of fabric, sewing each pair together and turning right side out.  They can be any shape you want.  The finished size of mine are 2″ x 4″.  Turn raw openings under and top stitch around all edges of the “frog”.
turning-frog
12.  Sew 2 small pieces of the loop tape to the wrong sides of each “frog”.
loop-tape
13.  Sew loop tape to the right side of the skirt along each side opening at the top, middle and bottom of the opening.
side-with-hook-tape
14.  (Optional step)  Sew buttons on each end of right side of each “frog”.
15.  Connect frogs to to  skirt using the hook and loop tape.
frogs-on-skirt
You’re finished!  When you’re ready to place the tree skirt around the tree, just undo one side of each “frog” and then reconnect the hook and loop tapes.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this how to make a tree skirt tutorial!

You might also like these Christmas sewing tutorials:

Christmas-stocking-tutorial

Christmas Stocking Tutorial

snowflake-stocking-tutorial

Snowflake Stocking Tutorial

 

 
 
 

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28 Comments

  3. Can you share a specific link to the fabric please – I’m in England, so can’t get anything from your supplier – hoping to find something similar over here.

    Reply

  4. Thank you so much for this tutorial – i have been looking for something that will help me since I have a fabric that has a border print that i did not want to lose doing it as a round.

    Reply

  5. Hiya, I’m going to try to make this this year and wondered if you could tell me what this type of fabric is called? It looks more substantial than the cotton etc. I was looking at and I’d like to use a similar fabric in my project but I’m not sure what this is called.

    Thanks for the great tutorial, gorgeous and simple!

    Reply

    1. Thanks Christina! This is a decorator fabric, so it’s much thicker than a cotton quilting fabric. Decorator fabrics are usually 54″ wide instead of 45″, and more expensive. I bought these fabrics 3 years ago from Greenhouse Fabrics, which is a company I use to buy decorator fabrics for my clients.

      Reply

  10. I love this tree skirt and plan to make it for our new tree. The problem I’m having is our tree is huge so we need a skirt that is at least 72inches from edge to edge(36inches from center to edge). How do I scale the wedges for the larger size?

    Reply

  11. I love this tree skirt and looks easy to make. Will try making one for next year. Hope it turns out as pretty as yours. Thanks

    Reply

  12. How big was the piece of cardboard you used to make your knife pleats? Do you find narrower pleats are easier to ease around the corners?

    Reply

    1. Meg, you can make the cardboard whatever size you want. Mine was probably 3/4″ to 1″ wide. I think you have to really ease in any size of knife-pleat ruffle around corners.

      Reply

  14. Could you please explain sewing the lining? Do you sew with right sides together or wrong sides together?

    Thank you!

    Reply

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