Personalized Christmas

Photo to Fabric Transfers

Aug 31, 2007

Christmas is all about family. What better way to pay tribute to the family than by making it completely personalized.

Photo to Fabric transfers open up all sorts of possibilities. Today we are going to make a tree skirt. Watch the next article for more ideas.

Materials Needed:

Computer
Printer
Photo to fabric transfer paper-10 pack
Sewing machine
4 yard of fabric (8 different fabrics, 1/2 yard each)
Sheet of paper 23" x 18" or large brown paper bag opened up
Scissors
Needle and thread
Scanner-optional if photos are not on your computer
Trim-1 yard per photo making 8" x 10" photos
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Batting –45” circle
Straight pins
Iron

The tree skirt we are making will allow for eight different photos but with the tree against the wall, the back ones won't be visible. For this reason I only use four. You can alter this design and put two or three in each section if you prefer.

Cut the paper or brown paper bag into a triangle that measures 23" X 18". Round the bottom. Now cut five inches off of the tip. This is your template for each of the sections. You will want a total of 16 pieces, two from each fabric. Eight pieces will be for the top and eight for the bottom.

Decide what order you will want the pieces so you will know which will be the front four and in which order they will go in. This will make a difference if you are going to put children or grandchildren on the tree skirt and want them in order of birth.

Print off four 8” X 10” close up photos following the manufacturers instructions. Sew the four photos to the four front triangles with the widest part of the triangle being the bottom of the photo. You can trim them into ovals or circles first if you prefer. Sew these four pieces together in the order you prefer.

Sew two of the triangle pieces together. Sew the photo triangle piece of four onto these two. Add the other two triangles to the other side of the photos.

Sew the remaining eight pieces of triangle together in the same order as the top but in reverse so that when it is flipped over the pieces on top will match up to pieces on the bottom. Make sure the last two pieces are not attached to allow an opening for the skirt to go around the tree.

Lay this piece on your batting and trim batting to match.

Put the two triangle fabric pieces flat with right sides together. Lay your batting on top. Pin all the way around. Now sew the layers together leaving an opening to turn the project right side out. Sew the opening closed with needle and thread. Press.

Sew the edging of the tree skirt about ½ “ from the edge all the way around and up the opening. Continue around the center opening.

Using the hot glue, trim each of the photos.

You can add trim to the bottom of the tree skirt if you choose.

Watch for the next article for some ideas for gifts and other decorating ideas. Save the scraps of fabric for the garland and ornaments.