DIY Repurposed Christmas Tree Skirt

http://strikesmyfancy-2013.blogspot.com/2013/12/picture-tutorial-repurposed-christmas.html                                                                  This is a Picture Tutorial for a DIY Repurposed Christmas Tree Skirt made out of a set of festive placemats.

Here's a list of supplies you will need for this project:
6 quilted placemats
1/2" Ribbon
Bias Binding
The placemats were already in the shape of a octagon with 2 long sides and 2 short sides in addition to the 4 diagonal edges. These are standard sized placemats that are double faced and have nicely finished edges around the perimeter of the placemats with a serger stitch.

I cut each placemat from corner to corner as shown with the black lines. I also trued up the other side and discarded a small section on each side. I cut 3 placemats in one direction and 3 in the other directions. By cutting the placemats in both directions as in the above 2 photos, your sections will all be face up and the outer edges will all match nicely. You will end up with and extra pair, because you will only need 5 pairs for the tree skirt.

I laid out all 10 sections out on the table and then butted them together to create a circle. This gave me a 10 pie shaped sections with an uneven outer edge that created a scalloped outer edge.

Next I butted each section together and stitched with a wide zigzag stitch starting at the outer edge. I joined the long edges together first and then short edges together. This will create a completely closed tree skirt. No need to leave an area open, just slip it over the tree stand before setting up the tree.

Starting at the outer edge, I then stitched red ribbon over each of the joined sections to create the pie pieces of tree skirt. I later went back and tucked the outer tail of the ribbon over to the back side and hand stitched it underneath.Here's a close up of the ribbon stitched down on both edges of the ribbon. The red ribbon really finished off the skirt nicely and defined the shape.

I cut a small section out of the center of the tree skirt to create the hole for the tree. I finished that center hole off with a small piece of bias binding for a nice neat finish.

Here's the finished Repurposed Christmas Tree Skirt. A simple, beautiful little tree skirt made out of placemats. Imagine using a plain set of placemats. This DIY method makes the perfect plain canvas for embroidery or any other embellishment. My placemats already had a pretty festive print, so the ribbon was just enough.