Tree Skirt trials

Making a new Christmas tree skit? I thought it would be easy.

My current skirt is chevron style in a bright, colorful array of hues. It was great for the space it was created, but quite out of place in our new home. I have since published the pattern for that tree skirt, called Zigzags in the Round. I thought I would sew my pattern again, but in a more classic palette.

Here is my first fabric round up, sourcing fabrics from my stash including new additions from the Christmas in the City fabric collection. I’m aiming for red, burgundy, wine and green with touches of white, black and soft pink. Seemed like a strong start.

I bolstered my stockpile of the right shades with a few new fabrics from UK-based Purple Stitches. The two solids are super fine corduroy, which Purple Stitches offers in tons of colors. Shown here are Bordeaux and Brick. I love soft textures for holiday projects, when cozy equals lux. This needlecord would also be perfect for clothing. The marble prints called Pietra suit my home particularly, with its old, stately air. Pietra is available in 20 shades! And then I couldn’t resist the Holly Holiday Icons print. Fun!

Only this week when I decided to get started, the fun evaporated. I brought the fabrics into my living room to double check the balance of colors and suddenly I realized that a chevron-style, busy patchwork skirt wouldn’t really suit the room. The colors were spot on, but I needed to simplify. I wanted to lean into elegance over joy.

Maybe I could still make a Zigzags in the Round chevron-style skirt, but calm things down with an orderly color division? The zigs could be made up of red and wine/burgundy and the zags of green and black. But, no, that still felt too busy.

Perhaps a simple striped skirt would please, with a gently scalloped edge?

Or the same, but with fewer colors? Gah, nothing felt right.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who at times gets mired in indecision. You can sense that you haven’t found the right idea, but you don’t really know what you’re looking for. It doesn’t feel good. At times like these, I often browse Pinterest, my Instagram favorites or simply let the project sit for awhile. This time, waiting didn’t appeal. I really want a new tree skirt this year!

Well, finally I settled on something inspired by the Diamond Log Cabin Tree Skirt pattern by Quilt in a Day. I’ll create the center star with alternating colored needlecord diamonds, keeping that part simple. The center will be mostly hidden by the tree, after all. Around the edges I will add diamond log cabins in a limited color palette.

The outer diamonds are added with y-seams, in this design. The center of the needlecord star will be cut-out to create the tree trunk area and all of the edges will be finished with binding.

Is this going to be my favorite project ever? Nope. I’m not thrilled with it, but I am pleased to be moving forward in time for the holidays. Maybe with some special quilting it will even turn out better than I expect.

At any rate, the log cabin diamonds themselves are very pretty!