How to Draft a Christmas Tree Skirt
Let's draft three variations on a tree skirt—a simple circle, a scalloped edge and a pointed edge.
Hello my mathy sewing friends! I’m just popping in with a seasonal BONUS tutorial for you today. For years, I’ve been thinking about making a fancy quilted Christmas tree skirt. Key word: Thinking. Instead, I usually just wrap some fabric around the base of my trees. So while I’m still thinking about sewing a tree skirt, the first step is (obviously) to design and draft a pattern.
You can make a tree skirt as fancy or as simple as you like. For quick and simple, you can cut one out of felt or fleece and leave the edges raw. Or, you can make a complicated pieced design with all the edges finished. I really love this Nutcracker design (called the Merry March Tree Skirt) from the Weekend Quilter.
Drafting a Tree Skirt uses a lot of the same concepts and principles that we used in our Sun Hat series. It’s really just a donut shape with a slit opening at the back. So, let’s start with a refresher on Circles.
Circle Terminology & Formulas
Diameter The distance from one side of a circle to the other, measured when passing through the center of the circle.
Radius The radius is measured from the center of the circle to the edge and equals 1/2 the diameter.
Circumference This is the measurement of the edge of a circle or oval. To calculate the circumference of a circle we can solve C=2πR=πD. Or, in words, the circumference equals 2 times the radius times pi. Or, pi times the diameter.
How to Draft a Custom Christmas Tree Skirt
To draft your Tree Skirt, you need to determine the radius of the inner and outer circles.
X Inner Radius This is the radius of the inner circle which is the opening for the trunk of the tree.
If your tree is already in the stand, it may be easier to measure the circumference of the tree and use it to calculate the radius of the inner circle. If you have a live tree that needs to be watered, you may want the opening large enough to access the water reservoir without moving the skirt. If you have a faux tree, the base is likely very narrow and the inner circle can be very small. (See above for the formula to convert the Circumference to Radius.)
Y Outer Radius This is the measurement from the center of the skirt (inside the inner hole) to the outer edge.
You’ll want the skirt to at least be large enough to cover the stand. Beyond that, it’s your choice whether to have the skirt extend beyond the edge of the branches.
In the lower left of the diagram above, you can see the flat tree skirt with X and Y labeled. In the lower right, is the finished pattern piece. This pattern piece is designed to be cut on fabric that is folded in half. If you are sewing a lined skirt, you’ll have a small gap at the slit opening, depending on the size of the seam allowance.
You can also fold your fabric in fourths and mark the circles with a pen and string. Just remember that one folded edge will need to be cut open for the slit.
If you want to make a shaped and/or pieced skirt keep reading! We can use the half circle pattern piece and the same technique from the Sunhat Variation tutorial to create some variations on this pattern.
How to Draft a Shaped and Gored Christmas Tree Skirt
STEP 1: Trace a copy of the half circle pattern without the seam allowance onto tracing paper or other thin, easy to fold paper. Fold in half 4 times, matching the straight short ends, to create 16 segments. (The finished tree skirt will have 16 total segments, aka gores.)
STEP 2: For a scalloped edge, draw a curved line with the peak at the single folded edge. For an angled edge, draw a straight line. Cut along the line. Unfold. (You may want to adjust this cut. Just refold and recut until you find a curve that you like.)
STEP 3: If you want to use a single piece of fabric for the skirt, simply unfold the pattern and add a seam allowance and mark the edge for fold placement (solid line in diagram).
If you want to use a different fabric for each segment, cut along two inner fold lines to separate a single segment. Add a seam allowance. To make a full circle, you’ll need 16 segments.
During my many years of apartment dwelling, I collected a few small faux Christmas trees, including this white one. Each tree has its own ornaments and the white one has the honor of housing these handmade (by me!) strawberry ornaments and a garland of tiny fabric yo-yos. I love the pastel colors with the white branches.
I now live in a bigger house and also have a 7’ live tree for the season. That tree is waiting for a Christmas tree skirt (as well as garland and a topper :P). It will probably take a few years before I tackle a fancy tree skirt but it’s definitely on my endless list of projects.
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Happy mathing!
Beth
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Thank you, Beth