But then in one of the quilting Facebook groups that I lurk in, someone posted a picture of a tree skirt that I LOVED. It was perfect–not overly Christmas-themed, not super gaudy, just sweet and simple and a lovely backdrop for a decorated tree and nicely wrapped presents. Her secret trick? She’d altered a conventional non-Christmas quilt pattern into a tree skirt! I bought the exact same pattern she used (because I am just that creative, lol), figured out how to alter it, and before the week was out I, too, had the perfect Christmas tree skirt of my non-cornball, sweet and simple and lovely dreams. Along the way, I realized that it’s actually quite possible to alter actually quite a lot of non-Christmas quilt patterns to make perfectly suitable tree skirts. Here’s what I’ve learned:
Choose a Suitable Pattern
Nearly any pattern with rotational symmetry could work as a Christmas tree skirt, although some might need more altering than others, of course. For the Chroma Quilt pattern, which is the pattern that I used, all I needed to do was omit the center octagon, then do a tiny bit of fiddly sewing to connect the innermost circle without that octagon to anchor it: After that, piecing together the rest of the Chroma quilt went exactly as described in the pattern: The Chroma Quilt pattern works especially well as a tree skirt because it’s a full circle quilt. But with a little more altering, you could turn a circle quilt block into a large-scale pattern. This Vortex Quilt Block from lovefrombeth, for instance, has a similar look to the Chroma Quilt 16 Tone Swirl variation, and you’d just need to scale it up and omit the center circle: I also like the look of the Mini Piccadilly Circle Quilt Pattern from Sassafras Lane. I think it would be pretty to simply omit the outer black framing, but I also think it would be pretty to trim the framing to make an octagon. A quilt pattern doesn’t have to be perfectly circular, or even round, to work as a tree skirt. The key point is that it should have good rotational symmetry. The Harlequin Garland Pattern from Free Bird Quilting Designs, for instance, is essentially a pattern for appliques that you can stitch to any background that you prefer. The tree skirt that you create could be circular, but it could also be octagonal, or scalloped, or even freeform.
Alter the Pattern for a Center Hole
Honestly, I probably picked the fiddliest pattern to alter into a tree skirt, simply because the way it’s pieced meant that I had to do some thinking to make that center hole. The Chroma Quilt pattern starts with a central octagon, to which you sew triangles to straighten out the angles so that you can continue to piece the quilt log cabin style. Without that octagon, I had to piece those triangles separately, meaning that I had to sew a LOT more precisely than I usually make myself sew, lol! But if you modified something like the Shimmer Rhinestone Quilt pattern from Castilleja Cotton, for instance, perhaps all you’d have to do is seam rip that center square. And now I’m wondering why I didn’t simply sew that center octagon and seam rip it!
Cut the Quilt from Edge to Center
Unless you find a quilt pattern that is pieced with rotational symmetry such that you can simply leave one seam from the edge to the center unsewn, the biggest, scariest alteration to turn a traditional skirt into a Christmas tree skirt is cutting a huge cut right through one side of your precious, sweet baby quilt. I dithered about where I wanted to make my own cut, and that part halfway between the panels probably isn’t objectively the perfect spot, but the beauty of DIYing your own alteration is that you can do what you want!
Add Ties or a Zipper
I like the idea of a zipper for making the tree skirt look seamless and tidy, but ties are far more common, and they make for a much more versatile tree skirt, too. If for some reason you wanted to overlap the edges of your tree skirt to make it more narrow, you could do so without having half a zipper showing. And, fine, the bows that you can tie DO look cute. I used double-fold bias tape to bind my tree skirt, and it was pretty fun to be able to stitch the bias all the way around the outside of the skirt, up one cut side, all the way around the inside, and down the other cut side all in one go. I pinned 12″ lengths of double-fold bias sandwiched in between the bias binding and the quilt top at the bottom, top, and halfway point of both cut sides, and they work great and look adorable. After Christmas, I do want to make a proper Chroma Quilt for myself, but I also kind of want to do this exact same alteration to it and make myself a poncho!
