Ruched Tree Skirt 2.0

I LOVE my updated, multi-layered tree skirt.   One simple tweak made my $12 ruched tree skirt even more beautiful.  Now it is a $26 tree skirt, but that is still far cheaper than what stores are charging for tree skirts.

Last year a reader shared that she layered he ruched tree skirt on top of another round table-cloth, un-ruched, to create a layered tree skirt.  Genius!  I added it to my list of things to do this year when we set up the tree.

As much as I loved the ruched tree skirt on its own, I will admit it was a little fussy.  It took a while to lay it under the tree and get all the gathers to look pretty.  Also, this year we upgraded our tree from a 6.5-foot tree to a 9.5-foot tree.  Taller trees have bigger lower branches and need a bigger tree skirt.

I was happy to find this cream metallic round table loth at Target.  The pictures do not do it justice.  It has metallic gold threads woven through the fabric.  The metallic sheen is very elegant.

I laid out the new table-cloth (don’t worry I ironed all those wrinkles out later).

I put the ruched tree skirt centered on top.  I fussed with it until all the gathers laid neatly.  I pinned it all down.  I cut a slit on the new table-cloth and a smaller hole in the center.  I hemmed the edges of the slit just like I did with the ruched tree skirt.  Then I stitched the ruched tree skirt on top.  I attached it along the slit and center circle.  Then I placed a few stitched at each gather to hold them in place on the new table-cloth.

The finished tree skirt is like a fancy ball gown for my Christmas tree.  The ruched tree skirt is now backed with the new table-cloth.  It was so much easier to get it to lay nicely under the tree.  The tree skirt is now 70 inches round and big enough for our big 9.5-foot tree.

Here is a full shot of the tree, complete with its fancy skirt.

We have most of the ornaments on, but no topper yet.  We added all our ornaments from last year, including the brown paper curl ornaments, faux ceramic animals, jute wrapped ornaments, washi tape ornaments, and the whole collection of mercury glass ornaments.  This year we added the cookie cutter ornaments.  We have plans for a few more ornament projects this year.

And, here is a wider shot of the tree and the mantel.  Love having the tree in the vicinity of the gilded menagerie and our helvetica stockings.

This is the first year we have had the tree in our family room.  We used to put the tree in the office, so it was visible from the street in the front window.  I have no idea why we wanted our neighbors to enjoy our tree more than we did.  This year we upgraded to the big 9.5-foot tree, which is so tall it will only fit in our two-story family room.  The family room is the room we spend all of our time in.  We are enjoying hanging out by the lit Christmas tree and seeing it all the time!