Today, as I packed away the balance of our Christmas decorations, I stopped a minute to reminisce about our tree skirt. It really isn't much to look at, but I love it.
The year was 1979. I was living in Boston, not quite a block away from Northeastern University. My first home of my own, I loved that apartment! As Christmas approached I tried to think of the best way to decorate, knowing that I would be in New Jersey for quite a bit of time around the holiday. In my mother's home we decorated with fresh greens in every nook and cranny of the first floor. Fresh greens seemed a bit impractical knowing that I would be away. My sister Suzy, who was also living in Boston at the time, graciously agreed to drive me to the burbs so that I could purchase myself an artificial tree.
I perused Faneuil Hall marketplace for ornaments. I took the T to Cambridge, Harvard Square to search for decorations. I found a quilt shop. What a treasure! I had never been in a shop devoted to quilting and I was inspired.
The red and green fabrics with the white dots spoke to my love of everything Swiss Dot. So, with a little bit of figuring, I purchased my fabric and went home to create a tree skirt. No pattern, no clue about what I was doing, just the idea that I could make my own tree skirt.
Don't get me wrong, I was a proficient sewer at the time. But I was in a rush and I wasn't sure about creating a circle. This was before cutting mats and rotary cutters. So I fold the fabric into a diamond. I cut a semi circle out of the top corner and circled what would become the bottom edge. Next it was time for the ruffle. I really wanted a ruffle. As you can see, I didn't create the ruffle. I was in too much of a rush. After creating a little bit of a hem, I only basted one line of stitching along the unsewn edge of fabric. I tried my darnedest to gather the ruffle. It would not work!
I was so frustrated that I tore the basting out and quickly created the pleats you see along the bottom edge.
There was no measuring involved, who had time for that. Perhaps I felt that I would "fix" the tree skirt after the holidays and make it the way I envisioned, but who can tell. Now, 35 plus years later, it is still the same as it was that very first Christmas. I love it. It brings back such warm memories of the holidays that I have celebrated in homes that I have called my own. Homes where I lived alone, with my husband, with my husband and children and then finally with my children, alone.
When Mark and I married I was glad to know that he was not bringing along a tree skirt. How could I not use mine, it has seen so much of my life? There are those moments, once in a while, when I consider creating a new tree skirt. Last year, in March, I actually bought a pattern. But, I am a stickler for tradition.
Eventually I will make a tree skirt for any of my other seven trees, but my main tree, whatever tree it happens to be, will always be skirted by my first attempt at creating a tree skirt. That makes me happy.
