How to Make an Elegant Christmas Tree Skirt

If you've recently begun thinking that it would be nice to have a dinner party where the plates and wine glasses matched, or if you've discarded your vintage togs for a more elegant look (if, in other words, you're growing up), why not opt for an elegant Christmas season?

Things You'll Need

• Elegant Fabrics
• Fabric Pencils
• Irons
• Measuring Tapes
• Sewing Machine
• Straight Pins
• Threads
• Scissors

Instructions

Choosing the Fabric

1. Choose a fabric that complements your theme of quiet elegance. Eschew anything louder than a whisper: Choose white velvet (to suggest a snowdrift) or midnight blue velvet to mimic a night sky. Coordinate the fabric with your highlight ornaments, if this is a possibility - Thai silk for an Asian theme, for example.

2. Buy 5 yards of fabric and, for simplicity, try to get fabric that is 45 inches wide. This will give you a tree skirt that is just under 90 inches in diameter after hemming - big enough for just about any tree. If you want a contrasting trim, buy 15 yards (it sounds like a lot, but trims vary significantly in price).

Cutting the Fabric Into Four Quarter Circles

1. Fold the fabric in half lengthwise, and then in half again to make four layers. (You'll have a perfect square - each side 45 inches - that's four layers thick.) Cut along the folds to create four equal squares. Leave them stacked.

2. Hold a tape measure with your left hand at the bottom left corner of the stack, pull it out with your right hand to measure 45 inches to the bottom right corner, and make an arc by moving your right hand gradually to the top left corner of the fabric (stop and mark every few inches with a fabric pencil); this will define a quarter circle. (If you're left-handed, reverse these directions.)

3. Cut along the curve you've just marked to create the outside edge of your tree skirt.

4. Measure 3 1/2 inches in from the bottom left corner and repeat the arcing and marking step to create a much smaller quarter circle.

5. Cut along the smaller arc to create the cutout for the tree trunk.

Sewing and Narrow Hemming the Skirt

1. Take two quarter circle pieces and place them together with right sides in, matching small and large arcs.

2. Pin along one straight edge and sew, using a sewing machine.

3. Open out - you'll have a half circle.

4. Pin one straight edge of each remaining quarter circle to either side of the half circle, right sides together, and sew, using a sewing machine.

5. Open out - you'll have a full circle with a circle-shaped opening in the middle and a slit all the way through it, like a cape.

6. Narrow hem the inner hole, the two long edges that form the opening of the skirt, and the outer edge. To do this, turn over 1/4 inch of fabric along the area you are hemming and press, turn over another 1/4 inch and press again, and then machine stitch.

Tips & Warnings

• Opulence is fine, but beware, especially in the trim department - the step from elegant to tacky is sometimes a small one.

• When you're drawing the arc of the quarter circle on the fabric, think of a clock and imagine you're holding the tape measure at the center. 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock are already marked - they're defined by the width of the fabric. Use the tape measure to mark in between - about every 3 minutes on a clock face so that the marks define a clear curve that you can cut on.