Want to pretty up the base of your tree this Christmas? The sight of the stand of my fake tree this year just looked so bad compared to how pretty the tree was that I had to whip up a quick skirt to cover it up and bring some festive fun from the bottom up too! This one is achievable for beginners to patchwork, and only require straight line sewing and some binding.

Simple Patchwork Christmas Tree Skirt Sewing Project

You Will Need

• Half a metre of Debbie Shore Deck the Halls - Love Birds fabric
• Half a metre of Debbie Shore Deck the Halls - Musical Notes fabric
• Half a metre of Red Snowflakes fabric
• approx 1m of backing fabric and wadding; OR approx 1m of wide felt
• approx 3m of green bias binding
• Matching threads

How to Make

1. To begin, you're going to need to do a bit of measuring and a bit of maths to get the right size for your tree. Measure across your tree base, as far as you want to cover. I extended mine about 10cm past each foot of the tree as overhang. Write down the diameter measurement from end point to end point for the skirt, then measure the inner circle where the pole will go and write the diameter for this down too. My measurements were 90cm for the outer circle and 7.6cm for the inner circle.
2. Now you need to do some maths in order to create a template. Work out the circumference of the outer circle (pie x diameter), then divide this by 12. Add 2cm for seam allowances to your total. Mine worked out as 23.5cm plus 2cm for SA so 25.5cm altogether.
3. Repeat for the inner circle circumference and divide by 12 again, adding 2cm for seam allowances to the total once more.
4. Now you can use these two numbers to create your segment template! Grab a large piece of paper or tissue paper and mark the full diameter of the outer circle that you measured from the tree, across one straight edge.
5. Now find the mid point and mark this. Pivot your tape measure from this point and use the half measurement to mark out points to make a semi circle. Join the dots to create the outside curve of the semicircle. (You don't need to draw the whole semi-circle if you don't want to, a quarter of it should be sufficient).
6. Repeat the above process for the inner circle, creating a small semi circle from the original midpoint of your outer circle.
7. Now to mark out your segment, measure the outer circle from the straight edge down to your pie measurement for the outer circle that you calculated earlier (25.5cm for me). Mark this point.
8. Repeat the same for the inner circle with the inner circle pie measurement and mark. 
9. Draw a straight line between these two marks and you have your segment! Cut it out and you're ready to start on your fabric now.
10. Use the template to cut 5 of the red snowflake fabric, and 3 each of the robin prints. Don't forget these are directional so you can't cut them upside down!
    
11. Start with one robin print and pin one snowflake piece along one straight edge, right sides together. Stitch with a 10mm seam allowance.
    
12. Repeat the above process, alternating robin prints and red snowflake pieces so you always have a red next to a robin. 
13. When you've stitched them all together, trim any loose threads and press open the seams.
    
14. Next, cut your backing fabric to size by laying your patchwork piece on top of your backing, pinning and cutting round to size. Repeat for the wadding if you are using wadding.
    
15. Sandwich your layers together, then stitch in the ditch along your existing seams to hold everything together. (Stitch in the ditch is simply stitching over your seam line on the right side - take your time for an accurate finish).
16. Attach some 25mm bias binding tape to the edges, pinning at regular intervals. I started at the top of the gap of the patchwork pieces, where it meets the inner circle, and worked my way down and round the outside, then back up the other side of the gap, finishing with the inner circle. I recommend putting your pins in perpendicular to the binding to help hold the shape better and reduce twisting. Gently fold the bias at the corners to create neat corners. Stitch with a small seam allowance, making sure to catch the edges below. 
    
17. If you want to, hand sew some ribbon to the edges of the gap to tie it together (I didn't bother).