I remember as a kid my grandparents had this long white, deep chest freezer that was in their basement with a single naked light bulb hanging above it. I imagined it would have been a good place to hide anything you never wanted someone to find. Inside the freezer were bags, and bags of tin foiled covered food that was older than I was. Layers and layers of freezer burned meats that had been on sale and vegetables from seasons ago. My grandparents grew up during the depression, so saving every last scrap of food was imperative to their survival even though they now were going grocery shopping every week. There was a an old metal coffee can next to the stove top for them to scrape their bacon fat into. And when it was full, it was placed carefully into that chest freezer in case the end of the world was tomorrow.
In their 'root cellar' were countless Bell jars full of preserves. I'm talking countless. Many shelves high and stacked to the back wall like a grocery aisle. I can vividly remember my grandparents working together like a machine to seal up jars and jars of pickles, beans, tomatoes, corn, everything from their huge garden every summer at their Winnipesaukee lake house. I don't know when they were planning on eating all that food, but it was there "just in case." It must of been done out of habit. I remember thinking that I was never going to waste my time preserving food, or freezing it. It seemed to silly when I could just go to the store and get a fresh rotisserie chicken, and a bag of pre-made salad.
I grew up on a dairy farm but was very uninterested in the business and concepts as a teenager. My mom spent hours in her gardens. She has the greenest thumb. She knows how to sew anything, cook everything and has a mean creative edge. I was never interested in what she was doing but certainly retained most of the information through what must of been osmosis.
I've come drastically far since I used to think those silly thoughts and now am more interested in all the things I didn't like as a younger woman. I don't know if it's part of my dna, or if all that work my family did in their gardens and craft rooms was imprinted onto me.
Because, I am in love with the idea of freezing food for later, canning for gifts, sewing, glue gunning, and stretching myself creatively.

I created this blog for my future and because of my past.

Monday, December 5, 2011

The seven hour tree skirt

One night on Pinterest, I found this amazing picture of this beautiful white, ruffled tree skirt.  The link led me to HGTV website for the "no sew tree skirt."  I thought, "Awesome."  And it was double awesome because a client of mine gave me a half-a-life-worth of fabric.  So, I knew I knew I had enough fabric and hot glue gun to make this simple, elegant, tree skirt from HGTV.  And they way HGTV made it sound (two short pages of directions, with about three steps per page), it was gonna take maybe an hour, maybe two for the real beginners.  But, I am a hot glue gun champion, a no-sew fabric expert, a disciplined and fast, neat worker, I thought it would be as easy as baking four dozen, different flavored cookies on two cookie sheets in an hour.
Well, color me wrong.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.
First of all, HGTV doesn't mention how many glue sticks you'll need. It's way more than you think. HGTV also didn't make it very clear to me which fold to cut so I wouldn't have to sew anything.  I admit - had I thought for more than the three seconds it took to decide which fold to cut, I probably could have realized what I was doing....to say the least, my no-sew tree skirt required sewing because I cut the base in half on accident and had to sew it together.  HGTV also didn't even dance around how much time this would take.  The way it was written really didn't give the project justice on commitment.  Finally, HGTV did not tell me that I was going to get burned by the hot glue.  It's almost impossible not to.  and I am very savvy with a glue gun.  I've had my fair share of beginner burns.  But, this project brought me back.  I burned the tops, the side, the insides of my fingers, not to mention countless nail beds.
What I'm trying to say, is that this project is not for the faint of heart. It's not for those people who have an hour to whip something up. It's not for people who can't handle a glue gun.  It's not for people who cry when cutting onions. 
This is commitment.  A tough-as-nails kind of person should attempt this tree skirt. Someone who laughs at high heat glue as it blisters their delicate skin.  It's for people who have hours within days of craft devoted time.  It's for people who live near craft stores and can easily get more glue.  It's for people with four yards of fabric, that is the same, or will at least match.  It's for people who want a huge pay off!  So for you non-criers, you heat seeking blister makers....this...this is for you...

I started by squaring off a piece of white cotton fabric, 4.5' x 4.5'.  Then I folded it in half and half again.  Then, I made it into a triangle - and the "top point" of my triangle was the middle of the square.  This will make more sense once you fold it up and look at it...at least it did to me when reading off the HGTV site.





The photo above is the first one I took for this project.  So, you'll have to do you best on my first set of directions.  The photo also shows that I rounded the bottom of my triangle off.  I also cut the tip of the triangle into a half circle to create a place for the tree truck to go.  And I cut down one side for the slit, but I cut the wrong one and ended up cutting the whole thing into two pieces, and had to sew it together.  You'll want to cut the side with one fold.  you'll see it, just think, and look.  you could also cheat and open it all the way up, and cut your own slit.



 This is what it should look like all opened up.  with a slit up one side to wrap around a tree, and a hole in the middle for the truck.

The next phase of this project is to cut the strips your going to use to make the ruffles.  I was directed to cut 2.5 inch strips of 3 yards of fabric.  Honestly, I don't know how much fabric I cut up.  the plaid flannel I used from my client was all folded up and was heavy, and looked like a lot.  I bet it was close to four yards.  And that's my suggestion for you.  Four yards into 3 inch strips.  I also thought that I would only use half of the fabric, and I ended up using ALL of it!  All but one 16 inch strip!I couldn't believe it.  So, get four yards just to be safe.  Seriously.

My fabric was about 10' long and I don't know how wide



These are my strips that are folded into fifths.  I cut all the loops to work with shorter strips on the base cloth.

Then I started gluing!  I started in with a 10 inch strip of glue about one inch from the edge of the white fabric.  Start with small strips of glue, because it's going to dry fast.  As you get into the swing of things, you can lengthen you glue strips....but, start small.
Then you take a strip of fabric and pinch it and set it into the glue to create the ruffle.  Don't work with a length that is too over whelming.  Mine were about 24 inches. It was manageable.  This part was kind of tough for me.  I mean, it's easy to cinch the fabric - but doing it over and over again was tedious.   And, if you have a table to this one - please use it.  I did it on the floor and my back got sore.  And the dogs tried walking all over it.  Oh, I dream for the day when I can have a huge craft table!


 Go all the way around.  when you start your second row, got about 1 - 1.5 inches above the next one.  You want the ruffles to over-lay so you can't see the white fabric.












I don't have a photo, but you can take the same fabric or gos-grain ribbon and glue it to the bottom of the white fabric as ties for the slit.  I did three  (two on each side, 6 strips) to hold it together, so the slit disappears when its around the tree.





And now, I wish you good luck!

This project took me about SEVEN hours total over the weekend.  And a trip to the craft store for more glue sticks - plan to use about 45 maybe 50 regular sized glue sticks.  No joke.

Here is the big pay off.....








It's totally gorgeous.  The pictures don't do it justice.  I love it.  I worked really hard on it, and I love it.   It's perfect.  I'm not sure if I'll be making another one anytime soon - but now if I do, I know it will all be worth it!  This tree skirt is probably my new favorite holiday decoration. 

Happy gluing!
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