Vintage tablecloth turned into Christmas tree skirt

I love Christmas! I love decorating for Christmas and I love unpacking my Christmas boxes every single year. Every year I add to the boxes with handmade ornaments like I featured all last week in my six days of handmade. Sometimes, I add big items, sometimes I add small items.

This year, one of the new items I added to my Christmas decor was a new tree skirt. But not just any tree skirt. It's a tree skirt that I made out of a pretty amazing vintage round tablecloth that we got from my husband's grandmother's estate just after she passed away this summer.

I actually see round tablecloths like this at garage sales and estate sales quite often, so in case you are like me, you can pin this or tuck this away and remember when garage sale season starts back up again to keep your eyes peeled for a round tablecloth to make a no sew Christmas tree skirt.

It took me under 5 minutes and I promise, there is really no sewing to make this tablecloth into a Christmas tree skirt. Want to see how?

This is the tablecloth that I started with. It feels like velvet on top and has these neutral pom poms already sewn all around the edge. It's pretty much perfect!

I laid my tablecloth out on the floor and was thankful for the natural fold lines that helped me find the center of the tablecloth.

Then I took one of my dinner plates and laid it in the center. I needed something to help me make my circle. I drew around the plate with a pen.

Then, I cut up one of the fold lines that was already in the tablecloth {if yours doesn't have the fold lines, you will need to iron them in to make this easier} and cut around the circle.

That's it! Now you have a tree skirt that you can use year after year.

For us, this tree skirt carries the memory of our Geigy and we are thankful for it this year since she isn't with us any longer.

Five minutes or less, that's all it takes! Next time you see a vintage round tablecloth, now you know what you can do with it. What kinds of Christmas keepsakes do you make every year?

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No sew stocking update plus an Expressions Vinyl giveaway!!!

I love decorating for Christmas. It's my favorite time of the year. The twinkling lights on the trees and every surface covered with something festive! Unpacking boxes is so much fun for me. I pull out ornaments that I got as an infant, village houses that I have decorated with for decades and special plates and wreaths my kids sweet little hands made when they were toddlers.

But not every decoration stands out year after year. And for that reason, I like to get creative!

Take for example this crushed red velvet stocking. It's seen better days. The bedazzled jewels on the felt holly leaves are coming off and, well, it's just not holding it's own against the red plaid woodland vibe that I am gravitating towards this year.  

Instead of throwing away a perfectly good {though hideous looking} stocking, why not update it? I've got the perfect no sew solution for you in case you find yourself with some stockings that really aren't fit to be hung anymore!

If you have a few of these 1970's era stockings, have no fear, we can bring them up to speed and have them hanging with pride on your mantel in no time! I started by taking off the jewels that were still hanging on, on the stockings. The felt holly leaves I left because my fabric cuff I was using was thick enough that they wouldn't show through.

I would like to say that I measured but I literally put the fabric scrap that I had over the white space I wanted to cover and cut a half an inch margin around the sides and a two inch margin around the top. I wanted to be able to fold the top into the stocking so that when it was open, you would see plaid and not the white from the old cuff.

Fold your three sides in and iron them down. Plaid is so easy to work with because it gives you lines in the fabric to work with. Love that! You just want a nice crisp seam on the edges. On the top, fold it down two inches and iron a line into it.  You want the edges to stay down when you iron them, but the top should be able to open up since you are going to fold it into your stocking.

Now you have your cuff.  I love iron on paper backed adhesive like Heat n Bond. I always have it in my craft stash. Iron on your Heat n Bond to the back of your plaid cuff. Make sure that you iron it on to the top of the cuff that you will be folding over.

Peel off the paper backing, and then place your plaid cuff onto your stocking. Starting at the edges of the stocking, press with a hot iron adhering your plaid cuff onto the top of the stocking. Be careful not to iron the top of your cuff until you are ready to fold that over the top and into the stocking.

Iron your new cuff into place and make sure that it's secure.

Once you have your cuff in place, you can cut out your heat transfer vinyl on your Silhouette. My favorite vinyl is Expressions Vinyl. It cuts like butter and peels off even the most intricate designs.

I went with a deer silhouette because plaid and deer are like peanut butter and jelly. Don't you think it looks a million times better?

Who knew you could make an old stocking look so much better with a few no sew updates?!

Over at the Expressions Vinyl Facebook Page they are having a rock your stockings contest! People can upload a picture of a stocking they fancied up using vinyl! And they asked some of their favorite bloggers to get the ball rolling with some fun ideas! {You can enter to win a gift card--but I also have a gift card for $100 to Expressions Vinyl at the bottom of this post! }



Here are 18 fun stocking ideas that all have Heat transfer vinyl on them!

1. Faux wool sock from Fynes Design2. Personalized stockings from Maybe I will 3. Gift card holder from 733 blog4. Customized stocking from Artsy Fartsy mama5. Stocking tag from Strawberry Mommy Cakes6. Stocking pillow from One Krieger chick7. Stocking shirt from Pitter and Glink8. Stocking banner by Sugar Bee crafts9. Boy Scout stocking from mm scrap shoppe

10. No sew from Holy craft11. Personalized Pajamas from Ginger snap crafts12. Diy Stockings from Mabey she made it13. Stocking with car from Kiki Comin14.Personalized stockings from Craftily ever after15. Burlap Joy stocking from A girl and a glue gun16. stocking placecard from Crafting in the rain17. Scandinavian inspired stocking from Tried and true18. cute stocking from Flamingo Toes

 Make sure to enter to win $100 gift card to Expressions Vinyl!

Good Luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

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