Not Quite White Christmas Tree Skirt

I love all things Vintage! Crazy quilts, ribbons, lace, embroidery, all make me a little dreamy. So, I decided to use them in a neutral theme to decorate my daughter's house for Christmas this year.

I used trims from Stampin' Up! as well as fabrics and lace from my stash and my local Value Village. So,  use the instructions for my Tree Skirt as a guide.

At the Thrift Store I found 3 embroidered cotton skirts, 2 linen skirts and lots of crocheted doilies. At home I washed and dried them all before cutting the skirts apart along the seams. All my skirts were lined with a lightweight cotton which is useful for backing fabric.









After sorting the pieces I brewed-up a large pot of strong tea. (5 Red Rose teabags in about 3 gallons of water, boiled for 5 minutes.) Submerge and stir the fabric in the tea until it is twice as dark as you'd like. Vary the intensity by leaving some pieces longer than others. Some of mine only stayed in the tea for 15 minutes, some for 2 hours. Wash and dry the fabrics again.

I made a pattern by folding a square of packing paper several times until I had a narrow wedge shape. Cut off 2 in. from the point and 2 feet from the the first cut. Press the paper with a dry iron to flatten it. I used half of the square so I needed to cut 8 sections for a circle tree skirt.
I cut my pattern from the larger fabric pieces first. I got 4 lace sections and 2 linen sections.










Leave 1/4 in. seam allowances at the sides.

When there were no more pieces of fabric large enough for a section, I cut the pattern from lightweight cotton lining. I folded my pattern in half and placed it on the fold. Then I sewed fabric pieces to the backing overlapping the edges and trimming as needed.
I made 2 pieced sections.

I sewed the 8 sections together leaving an opening.

Consider each section and embellish it.
I sewed rows of Victoria Crochet trim (118481) and Very Vanilla 1/8 in. Taffeta ribbon (119960) to the plain cotton inserts in this section.















To this plain linen section, I sewed a heart shaped doily found at a craft store and embellished it with a flower and ribbons.

Ribbon Flower
-cut 18 in. of Crumb Cake Scalloped Tulle ribbon (127840)
-fold lengthwise and sew a running stitch and gather into a circle
-sew to the Tree Skirt

-make 5 long stitches forming spokes over the centre of the tulle ruffle
-thread a tapestry needle with Crumb Cake seam binding (122332)
-weave the seam binding through the thread spokes, twisting and shaping the petals

-tie knots in a 40 in. length of Whisper White 3/8 in. Taffeta ribbon (109070)
-arrange the ribbon and stitch the knots to the Tree Skirt

I cut the corners and edging from a large eyelet doily and sewed them to this section. Then, I tied knots in 3/8 in. Crumb Cake Taffeta ribbon (122966) and tacked it down.

The large lace fabric pieces were sewed to a thin cotton backing section. I covered the raw edges where the fabrics joined with thrift store doilies and added a woven ribbon heart surrounded with Neutrals Designer buttons (119743).

I used the 3-1/2 in. circle die and my Big Shot to cut circles from tea-dyed fabrics and made a bunch of yoyos to embellish a section.

On this plain linen section I sewed an eyelet doily from the thrift store and added some ribbon flowers.
The large rose was made from Crumb Cake Scalloped Tulle ribbon (127840) loosely coiled and stitched.
The No-Sew 3/8 in. Taffeta ribbon flowers are my own invention. But, you'll have to sew them to the doily.

Here's a close-up of the flowers.

This section was difficult to embellish because I sewed odd-shaped pieces of lace a bit haphazardly on a thin cotton backing. Eventually I came up with the a criss-crossed Crumb Cake taffeta ribbon (122966) design to cover the joined edges of the lace. The doilies also cover some seams. I coiled 7/8 in. Cotton ribbon (127844) to make the flower.

I sewed Soft Suede taffeta ribbon (122967) to this section to look a little like a fan and added lace cut from a thrift store doily.

After embellishing the sections I hemmed the opening edges and sewed lace to the outer edge and the centre.