a homemade tree skirt.

hello lovelies.  can you believe we only have three days before it's officially christmas?  holy smokes.  what the heck happened to december...i swear, life never went this fast...did it?

i wanted to share a quick diy project for those of you who are still decorating and getting the last bit of trimmings for your tree.  after searching high and low for a decent tree skirt- and never finding one decently priced (i.e. practically free), i decided to make my own.  

what you need:
a round tablecloth
a sharp pair of scissors
sewing machine
pencil

how to:
as a novice seamstress, this actually freaked me out.  i eventually found a festive round tablecloth at marshalls (not for free, but pretty darn close).  i chose a round tablecloth because the figured the less i had to sew the better.  and i have to say, round is the way to go if you're planning to make a tree skirt this way.

i folded the tablecloth in half, careful to line up the seams, and the in half again.  once folded, i laid the fabric on a large work surface (in this case, it was our counter top) with a pencil and scissors in hand.

i used one of our dinner plates as a template for the tree trunk hole.  position the plate depending on how large you'd like the center hole to be and trace.  once you have the size you'd like, cut off the top, folded section- this will leave a large circle in the middle of the tablecloth.

unfold the tablecloth once, leaving the fabric folded in half.  double check that the seams are lined up and carefully cut along the folded crease (only one side) from the bottom of the tablecloth to the hole you just created.  you should have one large piece ready to hem.  

when my mom was out visiting, she helped teach me some of the basics of sewing.  the one thing she stressed more than anything else was ironing.  an ironed seam is a good seam- so bust out your iron, and as you start folding and pinning all un-sewn hems, iron as you go.  this will leave you with easy to manage and crisp edges.   

ironing and sewing takes the most time, but have patience, the final product is totally worth it.  once all your hems are sewn, iron the fabric one last time.  place around the tree and admire.  take lots of pictures.  trust me, it's totally okay to be freakishly proud.