DIY: (One Last) Tree Skirt to Lady Skirt, Y'all!

 Merry Christmas, all y'all! This Christmas, I'm thankful for Sudafed, tissues with lotion added to them (can we please give the inventor of that monumental awesomeness a metal or something? Those Puffs with Vick's are my JAM) and your kind words and well wishes after my sickly last post. I'm feeling so much better! The hubs and I just returned from a pre-Christmas trip to the Smoky Mountains (I've shared oodles of photos here) where we hiked with buddies, dined on gloriously delicious carbs that only the folks in the South know how to prepare and shopped. I'll be sure to share all that with y'all in an upcoming post. But, until then, Merry Christmas and One Last Tree-Skirt-to-Lady-Skirt Hurrah!

This would be my second tree-skirt transformation for this year (I've lost count of how many of these bad boys I've made over the years but you can see 'em here) and I gotta tell ya, this one almost didn't happen. I seemed to run outta gas that last week of school so this sat on my cutting table for a while. Which was just plain silly as making one of these takes no more that 45 minutes. Seriously.

All ya gotta do is start with a tree skirt. I found this one (it was actually a table covering) at an estate sale this year for a whopping $2. The ones my teacher buddies and I made for tacky sweater day were scored from Big Lots for a mere $7. Wait for those after-Christmas sales and start stockin' up, kids. 

Of course, my personal rule of thumb is the kitsch-y-er, the better. Make sure the length is decent. This is the shortest one I've made and it is 19" in length.

 I like to work from a pattern so I used a circle skirt pattern from Anna Maria Horner because I feel comfortable with it. 

I will say I did cut some corners out of sheer laziness. It saved on time and anguish. Rule #1 of Tree-Skirt-to-Lady-Skirt Club: There Shall Be NO Anguish. 

 Following the pattern, I simply folded my skirt twice, pinned the pattern and place and commenced cutting. 

By the way, always check your sizing. I'm not an XS in the shops at the mall (especially For-never21) but according to this pattern, I am. Which is why Anna Maria Horner is my personal hero and I've built an XS shrine to her. Bless you, Anna Maria!

 From there, I cut an opening along the edge of the fabric. 

Using the pattern, I cut out a waistband, added some interfacing and stitched it with a 5/8" seam with right sides together. The pattern actually calls for you to install the zipper first then do the waistband. If you go this route, the zip stops at the waistband and a hook and eye is stitched in to keep the waistband closed. I decided to have my zipper go all the way to the very top of my skirt. For that reason, I put the waist band in and then added the zipper.

 Stitch the skirt back together with a regular stitch from the bottom all the way to where the zipper install will begin (I used a 9" zipper so I measured 9" down from the waistband). Then switch your stitch setting to a basting stitch as those stitches will be ripped out once the zipper is in place. You can see my terribly easy and horribly tacky way of installing a zipper with Scotch Tape here. 

 Here's a peek at the final zipper-y product. 

Let's just hope I don't eat too much more pie so that I don't have a zipper that decides to slide itself down. 

Obligatory skirt twirl. One must do this in a circle skirt. It's, like, the law, y'all. 

Meanwhile, it's Christmas day...and there seems to be plenty of this happening at Casa de Cassie. 

The hubs did good this year with this present. I can't wait to try it out. Although that 12 needles thing sounds like it could end in a bloody mess, I ain't gonna lie. 

I hope Santa treated you right, this year! Happy Holidays, y'all!