ruffly linen tree skirt

I've never had a Christmas tree skirt.  Isn't that crazy?  But I've never been able to find one that I like.  Most of them are too small and if I'm going to pay a lot of money for something (like the really huge nice ones) I've got to LOVE it.  And I never found the right one.  Now, I'm glad I never settled :)

So when I saw this tutorial (click here for the link), I knew I was on to something.  It was exactly what I was looking for, I could customize the size & I had all of the materials on hand.  Yay!

I started with a 9 X 12 drop cloth from Walmart (about 14.99).  I followed the tutorial to cut it into the biggest circle I could get, then added the slit for the tree trunk.

(I'm not going to go into laborious detail, since the tutorial does that for you!)

Then I ripped lengths of various neutral shades of linen.  No precision at all.  Then, starting at the outside, I glued them onto the drop cloth, bunching as I went, with hot glue.

I didn't do the ruffles like the tutorial said to do them ~ I really did more of a pleat thing, since it took less time.  You could also do the ruffles on your sewing machine if you wanted.

It took me less than two hours and I am so thrilled with it!  The cats love it too :)  That is why there are no close-ups, because it has kitty fur on it now.  See below (with the usual disclaimer about the iphone pictures)...

We have a 9.5' tree ~ I know its hard to tell the size without anything to relate it to, but this thing is big!

Do you see who I see?

In other news, look what I learned to do with my Silhouette??  Happiness!!

I am so tickled with this project!

Thanks for stopping by!
kathie