Ruffled Tree Skirt

I saw this ruffled tree skirt a few years ago, and fell in love, but I had just made a new tree skirt to match my new Christmas color scheme...which is green, chocolate and cream. So....then we decide to move...and our new home has higher ceilings than our last house....and my tree looks a little dwarfed. I know, I should just buy a new tree, but I can't seem to find one that is not pre-lit...and really...hundreds of dollars for 1 more foot of height, seems silly. I have a really good quality tree now, so the plan is to put the tree on a box...stay with me now...I'm getting to the point...my tree skirt however, is not large enough to cover the box and down onto the floor....so...yay...I get to make the tree skirt I wanted...the ruffled tree skirt.  I already had some cream linen, I think it was an old tablecloth...and I've never used it, so time to repurpose it. I headed to the fabric store for some chocolate fabric...lucky for me, they were having a sale, buy 1 meter get 2 free. So for 14.00 I walked away with 3 meters of chocolate brown fabric. Do not underestimate how much you need...I didn't use all the fabric I bought, but had enough to make 4 new stockings as well, but thats it.

Started out with a pattern...I used some wrapping paper to cut the shape, or half the shape of the skirt, and although I didn't take a pic...I did cut half a hole in the middle of the long straight edge, which will go around the tree trunk. Size will be determined by what you need...I measured with the box and tree stand, and I needed more than four, not quite 5' in diameter...so I think I settled on 56"

 I used an old sheet for the base...I mean, what are you going to do with a sheet that doesn't match your bedroom decor anyway???

 Then I cut the linen and the chocolate...3" strips...the longer the better. I also decided to zig zag what would be the exposed edge of each strip. I was concerned about fraying over time, so I figured I might as well take care of that issue.

 Starting on the outermost edge, I began hot gluing the strips (after running to the store to purchase a new hot glue gun, as my 20 year old one decided it didn't have another project in it), pinching as I went along. Only a couple of burns...after which I usually exclaim "HOT glue"

 When I came to the end of a strip, but not the end of the row, I put some glue down on the previous strip edge, and put the next strip right side to right side of strip already down and glued...so it looks like another pinch

Stay tuned for a finished product picture on the weekend, when I set up my tree with the new skirt and the new matching stockings.

 Here, as promised, is the finished tree skirt under the tree...I am very happy with the finished product.

Rag Rug - No Sew

Hello, hello...I am so excited to share this project today. Ever since I found Pinterest, I have been wanting to make this project...the Rag Rug, or some posts call them T-Shirt Rugs...I wanted a little one for my main floor 2 piece bath, which has really cold floors in the winter. I had been looking for some rug hooking material all summer, and then last week had a brainstorm after purchasing some anti-slip material for some other rugs...I thought to myself, "well, that looks just like rug hook material" I purchased it at the dollar store and still had a large enough piece to work with. So, my intention was to do a large band of white with the rest being chocolate. I proceeded to mark out the band where the white would go with a marker right on the grip mat. As you can see, the middle would be chocolate, and the outside edge right to the end of the grip mat and the "framed" part would all be white...that WAS the plan...

 I had an old white t-shirt I purchased at a thrift store for the project...and began to cut it up...strips about 3/4" wide x 3" long...lots of cutting...used every bit of the shirt up, the body, and the sleeves

 I had seen on another post, to pull the strips so they curl, but I don't think it is necessary, as they end up looking more like tubes instead of fabric scraps...but I had already done it...so ya gotta stay flexible when crafting.

 I began by doing every "stitch" along the inner line with the white, and I tied each one as I went, cause I figured I will want to wash it and I didn't want it to come apart. It became very clear at this point, what I thought was a huge amount of white strips was not going to go very far...so being flexible again, I opted for the one row of white as shown.

 For the chocolate, I purchased some knit fabric at a local fabric store...I was able to match my ceiling color exactly...yes, yes, my ceiling is chocolate brown. The store had a sale, buy 1 meter get 2 free...so for $8.00 I got 3 meters (1m = 39" for you Americans) Plenty of fabric and figuring I would have some left over for something else....NOT!!! LOL

 You don't have to be particularly careful when cutting the strips, they don't have to be exact, as you can see mine above are not even, you won't even notice once they are on the rug. Then the time consuming part came...all the chocolate knots...now I did every other stitch (I kinda treated the grip mat like cross stitch material) with the chocolate...so I would work row by row...and do alternating stitches...kind of like laying bricks...hope that makes sense. I was plenty thick enough doing every other one.

 At the end of 4 days of tying single knots...not sure how many, but thinking about 2000...I had sore fingers, but it was done. I got the bright idea to "bind" the edge with a long strip of the chocolate, and threaded it in a large needle and as shown in the picture, went through 3 holes all the way around...

 Almost done...just trimmed the excess grip mat...now, in hindsite, I wouldn't have chosen to bind the edge as when you trim it, you end up seeing a strip of the grip mat, which I'm not thrilled about, but binding was a lot of work and I didn't want to take it all apart...so it is what it is...I think if you just leave it and trim to the last row of knotted pieces, you wouldn't see the edge at all...but, oh well, live and learn. Below is the finished rug in my little bathroom...it's perfect...I love how it turned out, even if it wasn't completely the way I intended...thats why you have to be flexible when crafting, roll with the punches...now I can rest my sore and stiff fingers...before starting my next project...the ruffled tree skirt!