Since the dog chewed our felt Christmas tree skirt, or wee’d on it, or did something or other to make it unusable, each time December rolls around I think I really should make a new one. But then of course this is the busiest of months and I don’t have time to run up a decorative bit of tree couture to camouflage the ugly green plastic tree stand.
Yesterday I fished out a couple of metres of rough hessian left over from a shoot and thought I’d just drape it around the bottom of the tree. This would have looked fine. But I was in the craft shop and spied some cans of spray paint. I LOVE spraying things. Instant gratification plus the gentle high of the paint fumes, that’s my kind of crafting.
This is so quick and cheap to make. It looks pretty. I’m enjoying it in its naked state, though soon, with any luck , it will vanish under a mountain of presents.
No-Sew 40-Minute Christmas Tree Skirt
You’ll need:
Some cardboard
A craft knife
About 2-3m hessian or other plain fabric
2 cans acrylic spray paint in different colours
Newspaper
Either draw some star templates or print them out – varying sizes look best. I used these.
Glue the templates to some pieces of card. Leave plenty of space around the shapes so that the card shields the fabric from stray paint spray. Protect the table with a spare bit of card and cut out the templates with a craft knife.
Cover a table with several layers of newspaper and lay the fabric on top of that.
Open a window (health and safety announcement) and give the cans a really good shake. Use the templates to spray stars over the surface of the fabric, varying the sizes and colours to make an attractive pattern. Remember to give the cans a lively shake from time to time to ensure an even flow of paint. Don’t worry about getting a dense layer of colour – I think it looks better if some of them are a bit soft and uneven.
Drape around the base of the tree. Try to stop the dog weeing on it. That’s it.
Martha would be proud! Those plastic tree stands really are ugly, I'm going to try this next year - where's a good place to get hessian from?
ReplyDeleteHa! You can buy hessian at most craft shops and fabric shops. It's really cheap, about £2 a metre. X
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. I try to decorate in a different theme every Christmas but am stuck using the same Christmas tree skirt every year. Next year I could use this technique to make a special skirt to match my decorations. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou are better than Banksy!
You have a different theme every year? I bow down to you, as I hang the same old lovely tat on the tree each year. Nice Banksy ref... X
ReplyDeleteGenius! I normally stick some wrapping paper round - bear in mind that I am rubbish at wrapping even a basic box. I have dropped several hints though about receiving your book for Christmas and an amazon parcel arrived two days ago... so I am hoping to be better next year.
ReplyDeleteHi Kath, It's so easy! Much easier than wrapping, I promise. I really hope someone does give you my book for Christmas, and I hope even more that you like it. X
ReplyDelete