Dorothy’s patchwork Christmas tree skirt

A Christmas tree skirt is a beautiful way to decorate your tree! In her tutorial, our lovely customer Dorothy shows us how to make a festive patchwork tree skirt that you’ll use for years and years to come. She used shop favourite Tinsel by Cotton + Steel for this project, but you’ll find a huge selection of Christmas fabric in the shop to choose from for yours. Now then, let’s crack on with the tutorial! Thank you, Dorothy!

Christmas Tree Skirt (56” x 56”)

Supplies:

Quilt top
2.25 meters for squares
1.25 meters background

Binding & backing
.5 meter binding
Backing and wadding for 64” square

Thread

Cutting instructions:

From scraps cut: 496 2.5” squares
If cutting from yardage you will need 31 strips

From background cut: 88 4.5” square
Cut 10 strips

Binding – 7 strips

Piecing instructions:

Seam allowance ¼”

Place the 2.5” squares in opposite corners of the background square, draw a diagonal line across the small square, sew on that line and trim with ¼” seam allowance.

Sew – 16 with only 1 corner

Sew – 72 with 2 corners

From these make the following:

Block A – Sew 8

Block B – Sew 16

With the remaining 336 2.5” squares.

Block C – Sew 21

Lay out blocks in the following octagon:

NOTE: In haste, I trimmed the corner blocks before I quilted. I would suggest you trim after the tree skirt as been quilted to avoid stretching the bias edge.

Layer backing, wadding and top then quilt as desired, I did continuous circular quilting. A tutorial on that can be found here.

Pick one side and mark the straight line down the center.

Draw a circle in the center block, approx. 4.5”.

Sew ¼” on either side of the straight line and ¼” on the outside of the circle.

AFTER you have sewn, cut on the drawn lines.

Binding is attached in 2 stages; straight edges first then the center circle.

Stage 1
Make binding for this stage with 6 strips. Attach binding to straight edges only, there are eight 135-degree angles on this tree skirt and I found this tutorial extremely useful.

Raw edges at the base of the circle is ok, they will be covered in stage 2.

Finish by hand or machine.

Stage 2
Attach binding to center circle with extra to tie.

In theory this should be bias binding, however I used one strip of straight cut fabric. It does not lie flat, but stands a bit upright. I do not see this as a problem as it will be flush with the tree trunk.

Press in ½” of the raw edges in at either end of the strip.

Fold the length of the strip in half and press.

Open up and fold raw edges towards the center and press.

There should be three press lines marked along the length of the strip.

Open up strip and attach to the circle, centering it so that there is equal on either side for the tie.

Sew on the line around the circle only.

Fold the binding to the back and top stitch the length of the strip, ensuring that there are no raw edges exposed.

And you’re done! Tie it around your tree and enjoy.