Earlier in the So Sew Easy Facebook chat group, I asked around for some ideas for this weekend's project. It turns out that a few would like to make an attractive and easy Christmas Tree Skirt pattern. So, I dedicate this skirt to Whitney and Sherry in the chat group for the idea. Since I had never made one before, I decided to use a design I had already used and then expand on it. I based this design on the Christmas Table Runner, which has been very popular.
I do have to admit that I had a bit of a hard time working out the pattern. However, I finally came up with one that will use very little paper when printing it at home.
This Scalloped Christmas Tree Skirt Pattern is only one pattern piece used four times in one colour, four times in a contrast colour, eight times on a based colour and eight times on interfacing.
Just like on the Christmas Table Runner, you will finish each petal of the scalloped Christmas tree skirt pattern first, then sew the sides together, which will expose the colour underneath.
This skirt has a bias tape attached as a finishing detail that turns into a bow so the skirt can be closed.
Materials
- 2 yards of cotton quilting (I used different contrasting fabrics for this as well, so you'll see three fabric types.)
- 2 yards of cotton quilting of contrasting fabric
- Thread to match
- Soft batting or fusible interfacing enough to match eight pieces of petals (depending on the width of the batting)
- 1 1/2 yards of 1″ to 1 1/4″ wide bias tape
Tools
- Rotary cutter
- Quilting pins or clips
- Serger
- Sewing machine
Sewing Skill Level: Beginner
This is suitable for a beginner who can sew a straight stitch and can follow written instructions. You will need to know how to attach bias tape.
Please follow the following tutorial to make your own bias tape.
Pattern Layout
How To Download Your Scalloped Christmas Tree Skirt Pattern
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Fabric suggestions from Amazon.com
These are the fabrics I used, in case you want to use exactly the same.
How To Sew The Christmas Tree Skirt
The seam allowance is included in the pattern. It is 3/8″.
Step One
Lay the main fabric print side up.
Lay the lining fabric print side down.
Lay the batting or fusible interfacing on top. Assemble all eight petals before proceeding to the sewing machine.
Sew all around the petal leaving the smaller side open to be able to turn the piece inside out. Iron. Make eight.
Step Two
With lining sides facing each other, pin the petals together. Using your pattern, mark the stitching line with a tailor's chalk and sew one petal at a time.
Leave one set of petals open to insert the bias tape and to be able to insert the tree through.
Step Three
Iron the skirt with a lot of steam, leaving the contrasting edges of the petals open.
Leave a tail of the bias tape off and pin the bias tape on the right side of the skirt 1/4″ from the raw edge. Sew the bias tape using a small to medium stitch. Turn the bias tape and use the stitch-in-the-ditch technique to sew the tape down.
Finally, sew the tails together to make the bow.
Did you know that the Christmas tree originally had nothing to do with Christmas at all? Leave in the comments below if you would like our resident historian to write about all the interesting things we use for Christmas; some of those stories might surprise you.
If you have missed the series of History articles, here is a list to get you started with. And, if you need another project to go with this skirt, check out the table runner and the no-hanging stocking.
Until next time, Happy Sewing!
Made this skirt before reading the comments. I found that when I made it I needed to add an additional 2 petals (10 total) I printed at 100% no scaling. I used 3/8” seam as stated in the directions. For the stitching of the contrast petals, I looked at the photo of the arrangement of the pattern here online and saw the dashed line was just outside each of the numbers 1 and 2 so I drew lines from that point to the bottom corner. Again, somehow needed 10 petals instead of 8 but it did turn out beautifully.
So frustrated with this. On the pattern it says to go to the site to get instruction, it brought up a octagon pattern, so the only way.to make this is to follow the instructions that are full of advertisements and so confusing.
Advertising pays for my time making, writing and creating videos and pays for your free pattern. For the first ad you can close and continue to the instructions then you can ignore the 4-page breaks for ads. It costs almost 5K to keep this page going how do you suggest I come up with the money if it was not for the ads?
Would I pay a subscription do it for you?
I printed this pattern to make the tree skirt, when I put the piece together it is not rounded like in the pictures and it is not even???
Did you print on Actual Size, using adobe and landscape mode? No scaling at all?
For those that are looking for the measurements for the stitching lines, I made an educated guess and marked my fabric pieces half inch from the narrow edge and 1.5″ at the widest part. I did end up needing nine panels to make a complete circle but my skirt turned out incredible. Hope my input helps others in their tree skirt construction.
Something went wrong for me on the skirt! After sewing all the 8 petals together they didn’t close. What is the seam measurements for each petal sewn together? The pattern didn’t say. Help!
It is on the instructions, “How to sew the Christmas tree skirt”
Wondering what the seam allowance is when sewing all the petals together to get the contrasting edges. When printing the pattern that detail did not print on it. When I made one of these last year I found that the skirt seemed to large, maybe going to try another with 7 petals just to see how it looks, as mine the last petal overlapped another.
Thank you for letting me know, I will take a look at the file, maybe it got scaled. Just out of curiosity what seam allowance did you use?
I think I may have used an inch per petal. Not really sure. I tried to eyeball from the picture of the overlapped part as to how much the allowance was. It looks close to what your picture is, but I can’t measure as I gave it as a gift to my in-laws last year. Do you happen to have a Facebook page where I can upload my pictures?
Hi Stacey, I do it is soseweasy, (I am trying to step away from FB), and prefer the use of Instagram you can upload there and use the #soseweasyofficial I will be able to see your picture and follow you. Kind Regards,
I’ve finished making one of these scalloped tree skirts. I ended up using just one fabric for the front and one for the back. Hadn’t noticed till I read some other comments about the stitching line on the pattern, but mine also did not print out with it. So I guessed at the inches needed which would’ve been nice had you posted what the measurement was for the stitch line. I don’t think I stitched a big enough distance as it doesn’t lay completely flat. I still need to add the bias around the inside of the ring and I’m thinking that once I do that and wrap it around the tree stand it’ll look good. You didn’t post pics of the back, but I think it looks nice as well and could be completely reversible. For my first I think it looks pretty good and am hoping my in-laws love it as it’s a gift for them. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making another one next year for my parents. Please post measurements for the stitch line since it doesn’t print out on the pattern.
I made the runner and everyone loved it. Now I will have to make the tree skirt as it is really cute as well.
Hi! Great tree skirt- thank you! Can you let us know where to draw the stitching line on the pattern please? Mine does not have the stitching line for connecting the sewn petals on the actual printable pattern. I noted that someone else mentioned it in the comments and that you were going to take a look at it. If you could just post instructions for drawing in the line, I’m sure we could all do it ourselves 🙂
I would like to hear the history please.
Oh this looks fun!! I almost made the table runner last year. Printed it out, had the fabrics all assembled, but never got around to it. So I will add this pattern to all that, and maybe one day . . .
Can I ask, what do you consider as soft or lightweight batting? And do you prefer to make this with the batting or the fusible interfacing? Seems like there would be a difference between them as far as how flat they would press over to show the backing fabric.
Thank you so much for sharing this pattern.
You said to leave one set of the petals open so that you can insert the tree. Do you sew the edges or just iron them?
I just iron them, planning to place the opening towards the back of the tree so it will not be seen.
You’re so sweet. Thank you! Happy holidays. I think this will be fun to make!
I love the look of this skirt but our tree has a very narrow “stump”, how big is the hole in the center? Thanks!
Not big at all 3.75″ across. You can make add to the height of the petal to decrease the hole or take away to make the hole larger.
OMG, please DON’T start with this historical revisionist BS about how the Christmas tree doesn’t have anything to do with Christmas. So lame.
Long story short: old Germans prayed to oaks (representing Thor, who was redheaded and not blonde), hacked down by St Boniface, who replaced holy oak with Christmas tree, saying it was a more Christian tree as it pointed to heaven. Henceforth incorporated into Christmas festivities, representing tree of life (genesis). Underneath goes a Nativity scene, representing how Jesus came to fetch us back to paradise, on top a star or angel, as per Nativity story, on it apples (representing forbidden fruit) and gingerbread (literally German: bread of life) representing communion.
Anyone telling you anything else is just a d#$! desperately ignoring or falsifying sources so as to justify his/her own anti-christian world view.
Merry Christmas.
Hi Blubb, thanks so much for that additional historical detail.
Thank you so much for your gracious response to Blubb.
Blubb–There is no reason to be so nasty about it.
Apparently they received different info than what you know. There are many stories regarding Christmas from different religions.
So–get over it
Blubb if you would have read Mayra’s carefully you would have noticed she wrote the word ORIGINALLY. I’m sure the writers of the New Testament never heard of a Christmas Tree, and St. Boniface didn’t show up till the late 600s.
Sew cute!!!
Don’t know what happened but the stitching line didn’t print . Was going to start it and now have to wait for a response. Help.
Thanks for letting me know. don’t worry it is easy, just pin the petals from narrow end to the wider end 16.5″. Tomorrow I will have a look at the pattern file, probably I loaded the wrong file, it would have to be my guess.
The stitching line didn’t print with mine either. Any update on this issue? Can you tell us how far from the edge this line is so we don’t have to reprint the pattern once you fix it?
I still don’t understand. I can measure 16.5 ” from the narrow end, but I don’t understand how far from the side edge to measure. Any chance those of us who paid for the pdf can get a copy which shows the stitching line. I did notice that the illustrated pattern piece on the instructions shows the stitching line. Thank you.
Hi Cindy, first of all thank you so much for your donation of 10 dollars there are just but a handful of people who donate such an amount. I place you in a special list. I am in a farm in the middle of Chile, 10 km from a small town called Paredones in the wine region and do not have internet only at night and do not have my computer with me. So I am sad I can not reload another pattern with the stitching line. What you can do is to pin all the sides of the skirt together before sewing. I know this will take some time to work out how much to take on each side but this is not impossible to do. I have refunded you money not because I am not grateful for your generosity but because I hate to disappoint you. Kind Regards,
I would love to hear some history stories. I have made your table runner and turned out great. Thank you and also left you something on PayPal.
Keep designing. Happy sewing.
Thank you!
My pleasure!
Cant wait to make this thank you for pattern
Nice tree skirt. How large does it end up being?
41″ wide. Measured at the center from one end to the other.
Looks like a fun tree skirt to make and use. I need a new tree skirt so will have to check out my Christmas material stash. I would LOVE your resident historian to give us the history behind our many Christmas items/traditions. I quite enjoy the history bits.
I will ask him to get on it right away! let you know when is published.
This looks fantastic. I actually made the Christmas table runner you posted before and it came out great so I think I’ll give this one a try too. Will leave a tip in Payhip for this one too. Happy holidays to you and your family.
Thank you Mary your generosity is much appreciated!