Hi There! Kendall again.
I have a new little tree that I got for my daughter but no tree skirt! I wanted to try and make it myself, and a certain big box fabric store is selling kits, but I didn’t want to pay the price of the kit! I thought to myself, a tree skirt, how can I easily get a pattern? Duh, use a circle skirt pattern and adjust for tree measurements! Knowing the diversity of Ellie and Mac’s patterns, I looked for one that had a circle skirt in the pattern. I landed on the Be Smart Jumper because there were both girl’s and women’s sizes to work with and adjust to my tree.
I have a baby tree for my daughter’s room that is 3 feet tall. I grabbed my measuring tape and got an idea of how far out I wanted to the skirt to go. Mine will be about 12 inches from the base. It comes just a bit farther out than the longest tree branches along the bottom.
Since it has a very small base, I printed the pattern with all of the layers and cut out the length that closely matched what I needed, and cut a smaller waist size to account for the tree’s “waist.” For my tiny tree, I cut out the smallest waist size and then cut to where the pattern was 10 inches. I cut on the 3T line. I am adding a fur edging, which will give the rest of my length. 
Having completed the skirt, I wish I would have cut the opening even smaller, using the same curve. The opening I ended up with was a good size for a full size tree, so keep that in mind. If you are making a tree skirt for a big tree, I would suggest printing out both the girl’s and women’s pattern, depending on how long you need your skirt to be. Then you can use the girl’s pattern to get the appropriate waist size, and the women’s pattern to get the correct length.
Then all was left to cut out the fabric. I raided the remnant bin and found 1 yard of a cute Christmas-y woven, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! I also found nearly a yard of white cotton woven, and 1 yard of fleece interfacing. It was a great day for the bin because I found everything that I needed! I had leftover fur at home from my daughter’s Halloween costume that I would be using as an edging for the skirt.
First, I ironed out the two pieces of woven for the top and bottom. Then I ironed the fleece interfacing onto the wrong side of the Rudolph fabric. I initially cut the interfacing out with the same pattern as the top and bottom, but once I got it ironed in the middle I cut off about ¼ -½ inches to leave room for the seam allowance. 
I decided I would use sew the fur on so that it would be folded under and be on the top and bottom of the skirt (see picture). To do this, I pinned the fur onto the top piece first. I had to pin it twice because my 1 year old was trying to be helpful by removing my wonder clips… I sewed the fur on that side, and then pinned and sewed the fur onto the other side. 
Here’s where another difficulty came. I do not have a walking foot, but it would have been extremely helpful here. The fur moved slightly as I sewed, so when it was sewed to both the top and bottom, there was the tiniest bit of twist to it. If I had a walking foot, it would have laid flat, no problem. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter that this twist exists, because it causes the skirt to pop up, which I do anyway. You’ll see what I mean in the final pictures. After the fur was sewn on both top and bottom, I sewed up the sides and around the waist of the skirt, leaving a small opening to turn it right side out. Then I sewed the turning hole closed by topstitching the waist of the skirt.
The next thing I did was add a bit of bling. I found this AMAZING rhinestone application product called Rhinestone Genie, started recently by a family in my own state, Michigan. For any Michganders reading, they’re from Traverse City! It is a super easy system in which you use their magnet templates to get the rhinestones in a particular shape, use the transfer tape to move the design to the fabric, and then iron them on. I was amazed with how easy it all was. If you want to find out more about this system or get your own, check out the website! http://rgenie.ositracker.com/110225/8269 [PS, it’s an affiliate link, thank you :) ] I’m going to add more bling when I get the rest of my stash! It’s currently at my parent’s house for another project.
I skipped putting on any buttons or clasps and I’m glad I did since I wanted the skirt to come in closer because the trunk opening was bigger than I would’ve liked. Instead, I overlapped the skirt, and puffed it up underneath with another blanket.
Pps, if you’re interested in any of the books in the pictures, check out my Facebook page for Usborne Books and More. I’ll have a special party on December 2 where you can earn free books or just hear about the products. www.facebook.com/groups/367728590368808/ If you want to just shop, check out the website at i7125.myubam.com
That’s it! Merry Christmas!
