Country Christmases invoke a feeling of days gone by. They should give you the feeling of being in a cabin with the glow from the wood fire. Included are instructions for a Tree skirt, Tree Topper, Ornament and Crèche. Feel free to take the ideas even farther to complete your look.
Tree Skirt
The tree skirt we are doing today is done in appliqué. For those of you who have not done appliqué before, it is a project you can master relatively quickly.
Materials Needed:
- Muslin (two yards)
- Cotton fabric- a variety of solids and calicos (about a yard and a half total)
- Scissors
- Thread
- Sewing Machine
- Batting
- Stitch witchery
- Iron
First you must decide on a design. I used trees but you are welcome to use anything that is meaningful to you. Trees work great for another reason. They are wide at the bottom and narrow on top which is going to work well with the shape of a tree skirt.
I cut two large trees out of a dark green cotton fabric. I then laid them on the Stitch Witchery and cut two trees out of this fabric.
Following the manufacturer's instructions for the Stitch Witchery, iron the trees onto your fabric. If you chose solid on solid for the appliqués they will stand out more. You can still use the small prints around them.
Using your sewing machine, sew the appliqué onto the fabric around all of the edges using an appliqué stitch.
At this point we have not chosen a method for assembling our tree skirt. The reason for that is because if we cut out quilt squares or anything similar, we would limit our choice of size and shape of our appliqué. With this project we are letting the appliqué determine the size and shape.
For example, in appliquéing two tall trees, I may not want all of my other pieces to be the same shape. I can choose to use pieces half as big and make the area next to the trees by sewing two different fabrics together.
It is totally up to you. You can make the tree skirt top first and appliqué it after assembly, or work in reverse. Make sure your tree skirt measures at least 45" across and has a center hole for the trunk of the tree.
Add batting with muslin backing. You can add trim to the seams for some added dimension.
Tree Topper
Add an appliqué coordinating with your tree skirt to a star shaped piece of scrap muslin. Sew. Cut a second star from your scrap fabric. Double batt from leftovers and stitch together the front, back and the batting. Turn and attach a piece of ribbons to the backsides to be able to secure star to the treetop.
Ornament
For a Christmas that brings back old world charm, the ornaments need to be very unpretentious. Make small bundles of dried flowers and tie them off in a bow using a matte ribbon. You can use different colors to give the idea of a quilt or keep them all the same color.
Crèche
Most nativities have a traditional Crèche or no crèche at all. With the Country Christmas you can use your traditional nativity but instead of no crèche or your traditional crèche, how about purchasing some Legos? Use the Legos to build a log cabin. Hot glue logs as you go to secure them in place. You can even add a spot up top for an angel. Then place your cabin below your tree with your nativity displayed accordingly.
