Yesterday I fulfilled a yearly tradition by heading down to the East Village to John Derian, a homegoods store with the most wonderful Christmas ornament collection (unfortunately none of its online). I’ve been fortunate to be in New York around the holidays for the past few years and every time I make a point of setting aside an evening to pick up a few new ornaments for the collection. This year I got several bugs, including a scorpion (who would have thought!) as well as a charming seal and lion. After wrapping up at John Derian, I headed to ABC Carpet & Home, which also has a great selection of ornaments, including a nice curated collection of vintage ornaments and decorations.
Since I have far more ornaments than I do space to display them, I often put my most treasured baubles on tabletop trees. For some reason, I feel they’re safer than if I put them on the full size tree. Today’s DIY is a simple tree skirt to add that extra special touch to your tabletop tree. It’s super easy (seriously satisfying to have it done so quickly and painlessly) and it’s inexpensive as well. I made two, one in white (shown) and one in red. In addition to color, you could easily mix up the trim and in addition to poms poms go with a scallop or zig zag pattern. Enjoy!
DIY Mini Tree Skirt
Approximate time: 10 minutes
Skill Level: Beginner
Materials and Supplies
- 14″ square of premium, wool felt
- 1.5 yards, 20mm pom pom fringe
- Fabric shears
- Hot glue gun
- Fabric pencil
- Binder clip
- Piece of twine or yarn
- Small cup (optional)
Step 1 and 2
Fold your piece of fabric in half and then in half again. You should end up with a 7″ square.
Step 3 and 4
Tie your fabric pencil to the end of the string. Cut the remaining length of the string just shy of the length of your square (approximately 6.75″). Hold the end of the string to the corner of your square with the binder clip. Holding it taut, trace an arc from the top left corner of your fabric to the bottom right corner (as shown in #3). Using sharp fabric shears, cut along the pencil marking. This creates your circle.
Following the same steps as #3 or using a cup, trace a smaller circle (approximately 1″ radius) at the corner. Cut along the trace to create the inner circle where your tree base will go.
Step 5
Cut an opening from the outer edge of your circle to the inner circle. This will create an opening for your tree.
Step 6
Using a hot glue gun, attach your pom pom fringe to the outer edge of your tree skirt.
Voilà! You just made a mini tree skirt!
