Fur-Trimmed Tree Skirt Tutorial

Tree skirts are super expensive and there aren't very many cute ones to choose from, so I wanted to make my own. I was a little scared to do this because I had no idea what I was doing, but it turned out to be very simple and only cost me about $16 to make.

To save majorly on fabric, I bought a red damask tablecloth from Walmart for $9. Plus, it's already a perfect rectangle so that means less measuring later on!
Excuse Kitty's toys and our doormat as I try to cut a perfect square from the tablecloth. The easiest way is to fold one corner in to make a square and then cut the excess off. You'll need the extra piece later on.
Hubby helped as we marked the center of the square of fabric. Then we used a yard stick and rotated it around in a circle at 25 inches for the radius. I put a dot every couple inches to form a circle.
To make the hole in the center for the tree, we did the same thing at 3 inches from the center.
Once the circles were cut out, I cut one straight line to make the opening. Then I folded in the hem around the center and pinned it. I had to clip along the rounded edge as you can see.
I decided to make loops and buttons to hold the opening of the skirt closed. To make the loops, I cut some 1 inch strips of fabric and folded each edge in. Then I pressed the folds with the iron.
Once the fabric was cool, I removed the pins, folded in again and pressed.
Using a straight stitch, I sewed along the thin strips to close them. Put these aside and we'll come back to them in a bit.
Back to the skirt, I folded the edge along the skirt opening and finished it with a .25" seam allowance.
The red skirt is pretty, but I thought it needed a little accessorizing. I bought some white fur trim and pinned it along the edge of the skirt with right sides in. Then I sewed along the edge with a .25" seam allowance.

Fur was not enough so I had to add some silver trim too!
I pinned it along the crease where the skirt and fur meet.
Using the sewing machine, I used gray thread and sewed along the center of the trim. You can hardly even see the gray thread once it's done.
Ok, now back to the buttons and loops...
I bought some metal buttons and covered them with the red fabric.
I decided on three buttons to close the skirt, so I divided the radius length and pinned to mark where I wanted each button to go.
I took the fabric strips I made earlier and pinned them at the three points I marked.
Then I sewed each loop to the edge of the tree skirt.

On the other side of the tree skirt, I sewed on a button at each of the three points to meet up with the loop.Here's a finished loop and button

And here's my finished tree skirt! I'm very happy with how it turned out!
The fur is the perfect touch to make it wintery and warm

I also bought another matching tablecloth to use on the table in the next room. I'm also thinking about a table runner and matching stockings : )

Gettin' my link party on here