Canvas drop cloth Christmas tree skirt

I've been working on changing some of my Christmas decorations around and using more bright colors as opposed to the darker jewel tones I've used in the past. I have 2 main things on my list that need changing. One is our stockings and the other is the tree skirt. Both are dark and just not what I want anymore so in an effort to not really spend any money, but have something new I thought I would make do with what I have.

Not too long ago I made some new curtains for our sliding glass door. I made them out of canvas drop cloths and a table cloth after having seen these ones. I love them!

I had some leftover fabric so I figured why not use it for the tree skirt. This is a very abbreviated tutorial on how I did it. I'm sure it's not all seamstressy correct or anything, but I like how it turned out.

Here is a very loose tutorial of how I did it. 

I first just laid out my canvas drop cloth and folded it into  fourths making a big square with the center of my skirt being in the corner.

I pinned down a string in the corner and decided how wide I wanted my skirt to be and using a pen attached to the end of the string drew my arch from one side to the other to make my circle. I then cut it out and also made a small arch cut in the center corner for my tree trunk. I spread it all out and cut a break in the circle just like this.

next you will need to decide how wide you want your ruffle to be. Mine is about 3 inched wide so I took a yard of fabric and with selvages together I folded it in half and then in half again.

 I used my rotary cutter and cutting mat for measuring, but it could certainly be done otherwise. I cut 5  7" strips of fabric {3" doubled + 1/2" seam allowance on each side}. The amount of ruffle you need will depend on how big you want your skirt to be.

I then sewed the short ends of each 7" strip together with right sides together to make one very long strip of 7" wide fabric. Iron open the seams and fold the strip in half with wrong sides together. Stitch along the raw edge using a 1/4" seam allowance and use a baste stitch that can be gathered.

On my machine, I put the tension all the way as high as it will go and the stitch length on 4 to stitch the piece together and make a ruffle as it stitches. The tension kind of ruffles it as I go so there is less gathering involved. That probably doesn't make any sense...does it? Sorry, I'm not sure how else to explain it.  {here is a great tutorial on hand gathering}

Next I pinned the ruffle to the edge of the canvas with the ruffle facing in.

  

 Stitch along the edge using a 1/2" seam allowance.

Once the ruffle is stitched in place turn over and iron the raw edges to the center of the skirt.

On the top of the skirt, top stitch the raw edges down along the edge of the canvas. 

I finished my skirt off with some double wide bias tape around the center and the opening.

I am super happy with how it turned out. Now I'm off to make those stockings. I'll share them when I get done.



Go check out Metamorphosis Monday, the DIY Showoff, Toot your Horn Tuesday, Tackle it Tuesday,  Kimba's DIY day, Today's creative blog, It's so very Cheri Holiday , and Somewhat Simple for more crafty ideas.