DIY Christmas Tree Skirt

Guy has been practising yoga in bed lately:

So, we decided it was finally time to get him his own personal yogi:

I kid... that's my brother-in-law.  So, we are getting our Christmas on, y'all:

King Henry is totally feeling the Christmas spirit.  I don't think he wanted to be outdone by the tree:

And while this fluffy, lil' butterball of a tree is quite magnificent...

Not outdone.  "Why would you get such a fluffy, love nugget of a tree and forget to trim it?!", I hear you asking in your heads.  Fear not, dear reader, the trimming is about to commence.  Tomorrow.  I had to get the skirt made first.  We have a little tradition in this house:

GODZILLA CHRISTMAS!!! I have a SLIGHT Godzilla obsession.  My husband has learned to live with it. This year I wanted a more refined look, so I decided to make a Godzilla Christmas tree skirt.

I started by making my own stencil with a piece of stencil plastic (8 1/2" x 11") and an exacto knife.  I swept up a buttload of canvas at the fabric store because it was on super sale and... why have I never gotten my canvas for painting at the fabric store?!  It was so cheap even if it hadn't been on sale, which it was. 

So, here's what you do for a DIY Christmas tree skirt:

1.  Buy supplies.  I chose to make my own stencil as I said.  I decided to go with canvas because I knew it would take the paint well.  I also got pink sparkly trim to sew around the edges.

2.  Find someone who has an available pingpong table if possible.  I'm serious.  Spread out your canvas, or other fabric.

3) Get string, a pencil, and an assistant/thumbtack.  Tie the string around the pencil and thumbtack your desired radius, or, preferably, have someone hold the string down.  Now pull the string taught and draw around the center to make an even circle.

4) Repeat step 3 around the center point to cut out a hole for the tree trunk.  You are basically making a doughnut.

5) Cut out both circles carefully.  Then choose a point and cut a straight line from the edge to the hole in the center.

6) Fold the edges of the slit under and sew down.  This step can be repeated around the entire circumference of the circles.  I chose to leave my edges raw and finish with Scotchgard at the very end.  You can also discourage fraying with clear nail polish or liquid bandage.

7) Sew the trim on all edges.  I chose to do this by hand because of the texture of my trim.  You can do it with a machine if you prefer.

8) Test your stencil on a piece of leftover canvas:

I used a sponge "brush" and it worked perfectly.

9) Spread pieces of paper around your skirt until evenly space as a template for the stencil positioning:

10) Now you are ready to tackle your first, or only, edge.  I used two colours of green for variation:

Make sure to rinse off your stencil in between EVERY application.  This way you will get clean lines every time.  I did all my dark greens first and followed up with the light greens.  Lucky I had my paper laid out!

11) Rinse and repeat:

I also turned the stencil the other direction for variation... and then I kept going:

Currently this is drying out completely on my parents' pingpong table.  Tomorrow I am going to Scotchgard the living daylights out of it on both sides to protect it from the inevitable dirt and fraying.  I HAD to be impractical and get white canvas.  The heart wants what it wants... and that usually has something to do with Godzilla.

How cute would this be with Pac-Man and the ghosts?  I have a billion ideas.  Maybe next year I'll have an etsy shop.  

At any rate, this looks so much better in person and I can't wait to bring it home tomorrow and get our tree all trimmed!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours... or Happy Holidays... or whatever!  Just be joyous and crafty, y'all!

xoxox