I don’t think there’s a more perfect octagon-shaped sewing project than a Christmas tree skirt!
It’s time for our November octagon in my Octagon of the Month series, and coincidentally also time to fully dive into sewing for Christmas!
Okay, maybe I’ve been waiting all year for this one. I mean, tree skirt and octagon goes together like cocoa and marshmallows, right?
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To make this tree skirt you’ll need:
cotton fabric
Print the template and cut it out. Save the octagon shaped graphic to use as a guide during assembly.
Using the template, cut 16 of the trapezoid shape from a variety of fabrics. You’ll use 8 of them on the front and 8 on the back.
Cut 2 1/2” wide strips that add up to 90” long. If you’re cutting width of fabric strips from yardage you’ll need 3, and you’ll have a bunch left over. I cut mine in shorter lengths from large scraps.
Cut 8 of the trapezoids from the batting.
Lay out your fabric pieces so you can decide on placement. This was my original plan.
As I played with them though, I found I preferred the scrappy look of using all four prints on both the front and back, so I went with this.
Using the graphic on the template page, number your pieces for both the front and back (even just in your head). I’ll refer to the pieces for the front as F1, F2, etc. and pieces for the back as B1, B2, and so on.
The red line on the graphic between 8 and 1 is where we’ll leave an opening on the tree skirt.
Layer the following, in this order, starting from the bottom:
one batting trapezoid
piece F1, right side up
piece F2, right side down
a second batting trapezoic
piece B1, right side up
piece B2, right side down
When your little sandwich is complete, it will be six layers thick. You should have a piece of batting on the bottom, and piece B2 on the top, and you’ll be looking at the wrong side of the fabric.
Clip the edges together on the righthand side.
Sew 1/4” from the righthand edge. Be sure not to stretch the edge as you go. If you have a walking foot, it helps a lot here.
Open up the sandwich so F1 and F2 are right side up. Press the seam toward F1. This is the beginning of the skirt.
Flip over and open up B1 and B2. Press the seam.
Flip back over so the front is right side up. Set aside for just a second. Lay out piece B3, right side up. Lay the skirt on top with the righthand edge of B2 (the underside of the skirt) even with the righthand edge of B3. The two will be right sides together.
On top of the skirt, add piece F3, right side down, with righthand edges even.
Add a batting trapezoid on top. Clip the righthand edges together.
Sew 1/4” from the righthand edge. Open up between F2 and F3. Press the seam toward F3.
Flip over and open between B2 and B3. Press the seam.
Lay out B4, right side up. Lay the skirt on top, back side down, with the righthand edge even with the righthand edge of B4. Add F4 on top, right side down. Top with batting.
Clip the layers together and sew 1/4” from the righthand edge. Open between F3 and F4. Press the seam toward F4.
Flip over and open between B3 and B4. Press the seam.
Repeat the steps to add B5 and F5.
Add B6 and F6.
Add B7 and F7.
And finally, B8 and F8. Leave the edges between 8 and 1 unsewn for now.
This doesn’t necessarily need any more quilting because the pieces are small, and we’ve sewn through all the layers between each section, but if you’d like to add more this is the time to do it. I quilted next to each seam, just to give it a little more dimension.
Sew the binding strips together to make one continuous strip. Fold in half with wrong sides together and press. Sew the binding onto the wrong side, following the raw edge around the outside, up the raw edge at the slit to the center, around the center, and back down the second raw edge at the slit.
Wrap the binding to the front and clip.
Stitch the binding down. I chose to do it by hand, partially because I like that look on small projects, and I also thought it would be easier around all those corners.
Put it under your favorite little tree and you’re done!
