Circle Wedge Tree Skirt, Part 2

A few of our members were unable to make our tree skirt workshop, so I decided to post the rest of the directions. Instructions for Part 1 are here. 

Making the Strip Sets.  To make a strip set, fold one end of your first strip at a 45 degree angle. Place your second strip right sides together, aligning the top edge of Strip 2 with the bottom of the folded end of Strip 1. Sew seam.

Continue adding the remaining 8 strips in the same manner, remembering to fold each of the preceding ends at a 45 degree angle. Because the circle wedge ruler is placed at an angle on your strip sets, staggering the strips in this manner conserves fabric.  

Press all the seams in the same direction. Ensure that each strip is pressed out completely and that you don't have a small fold next to the seams. 

Once you have completed your first strip set, make 9 more exactly like the first. 

Cutting the Wedges. You need to cut at least 8 wedges from each of your strip sets to obtain the number of wedges required to make the tree skirts. You need 40 wedges to create one tree skirt.

Place the circle wedge ruler on your first strip set with the narrow end at the top of your strips. This is an "up cut". All the up cuts will be used to make Tree Skirt #1.


Align the 45 degree marking on your ruler with one of the seams in your strip set. Slide the ruler as close to the end of your strip set as you can, and make sure your fabric strips extend beyond the upper and lower edges of your ruler. 

Every time you make an up cut, you'll need to place the ruler in the same position on all 10 strip sets. You might want to make yourself a note as a reminder. 

If you are unable to place the 45 degree marking of your ruler on a seam line, align the 45 degree mark parallel to one of your seams. Then place a piece of painter's tape along one of the seam lines and make a note to yourself where to line up the tape on the next cut. Remember, every up cut must be cut the same way.



 

After you have cut the first wedge, flip the ruler around so that the narrow end is at the bottom of the strip set. Again, align the 45 degree marking on the ruler with one of the seam lines in the strip set. This is a "down cut". The long edge of your ruler may or may not line up with the edge of the wedge you just cut. It is more important to have the 45 line on one of your seam lines or parallel to one of them.

All the down cuts will be used to make Tree Skirt #2. Make a note of the placement if necessary so you can repeat the exact placement on all 10 strip sets.

Continue cutting wedges from your strip sets, flipping the ruler after every cut. You should have at least 4 up cuts and 4 down cuts.

If you are able to cut 9 wedges from your strip sets, you can use the extra wedges from several different strip sets to make a scrappy tree skirt.

Up Cut and Down Cut

Using either the up cut wedges or the down cut wedges, start sewing wedges together in pairs, matching the top and bottom edges of the wedges. No other matching of seams is required along the length of the seam. Remember that these are bias edges, so place as many pins as necessary along the seam line.

Continue sewing pairs of strips together until all 40 wedges are sewn together in a circle. Do not sew the last two wedges together because you'll need an opening to go around your Christmas tree. 

Press all of your seams in one direction. Press (up and down), don't iron (back and forth)!

Now make your second tree skirt. 

Quilting. I used a regular weight batting for my tree skirt, probably Warm and Natural, but you could use a thinner batting, like Thermore or Pellon fleece, or maybe even a flannel if you wanted. If you plan to quilt your tree skirt yourself on a domestic sewing machine, quilting in the ditch will suffice. You'll want to use a walking foot. You can start by quilting in the ditch every 5 or 6 wedges to secure the layers, then go back and quilt in the ditch along every seam line. I have a long arm, and I loaded my skirt on a square backing and used a pantograph to quilt my skirt. 

Binding.  Because the outer edge of your tree skirt is a curved edge, you must use a bias binding. According to the original directions that I had, about a yard of binding is required for one tree skirt. I did not add ties to my skirt; but if you wanted to, you could use extra binding or ribbon.

Barb showed us how to cut bias binding at the workshop. If you missed her demonstration, there is a good tutorial here.