Thursday, November 29, 2012

RIP Puppet

I LOVE unpacking Christmas decorations.  Every year I hit the after-Christmas 90% off decor sales at Target and Hobby Lobby, then I pack away my finds for the next year.  So getting into my new decorations, without having to spend the money, is fun!

However. This year, we unpacked and I remembered that I threw away our tree skirt at the end of last season.  It was a cheapie red felt number, on of the cheapest I could buy at Target.  It looked good for about five minutes until our dog, Puppet, managed to nose her way under the tree and leave her abundant, fine white hair all over that thing.  I think that I also managed to catch it in the vacuum cleaner more than once. I kept it around for more years than it deserved, but apparently last year I had finally had enough. I vaguely remember looking for a new one at the after-Christmas sales, but I don't think I could find one that I liked.  And we had to put Puppet to sleep earlier this year, so I haven't been battling the War of the White Hair.

So a few nights ago, I got onto Pinterest and searched for tree skirts.  And showed them to my husband.  This was our conversation...
"Do you like this one?"
"No."
"This one?"
"No."
"Do you like ruffles?"
"No."
"How about this one?"
"Eh."
"Polka dots?"
"Mmm."
"Fine."

Then, yesterday, I got my husband to come pick up the kids and take them with him to his second job.  I went to Target, to see if they had any skirts I liked.  The one that I sort-of liked was $40.  Nope.

Off to Hobby Lobby! (They've got some cute new fabrics, BTW. Lots of chevrons and clean, graphic prints) I was going to follow this Design Sponge pattern.  I chose to make it reversible, and  I also chose to use muslin as my middle rather than light batting.

Closeup of the fabrics I chose.  RJ liked the one on the right the best.
 That is a great tutorial. The only things that I did differently was that I used a seam allowance smaller than one inch, and I notched all of my edges to help it lay flat.  Also, I just realized that I forgot to stitch the opening for turning it rightside out closed. 

Finished product!


I've left it on the green/blue pattern side, for now.  It looks really good with my pear green walls and the dark green tree.  I like the polka dot pattern better in the pictures, though. I may be changing it soon.
AND, the best part... since both of my printed fabrics were on sale, I made this for less than $10.  

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