Festive but minimal!

Smallest size skirt shown here with a lil conifer in a 6” diameter pot.

I had the pleasure of testing the new Connie Tree Skirt by Syd Graham! The Connie is a reversible Christmas tree skirt with a bound scalloped edge and your choice of ties or button closures (you could also substitute snaps). It’s a wonderful pattern to showcase patchwork, wholecloth quilting, appliqué, or an upcycled thrifted quilt. I made mine using Fableism wovens for cozy autumn vibes 🍁

Pattern

Connie Tree Skirt by Syd Graham Patterns

I sewed the smallest size (Baby: 28” diameter), which is great for apartment dwellers.
For more support, see Syd’s in-depth video tutorial.

I’d rate the pattern difficulty as Confident Beginner to Intermediate. Sewing binding on small, alternating curves is tricky to do neatly! If this is your first time quilting, I recommend practicing binding straight edges before attempting this pattern.

Fabric & Supplies

Front: Fableism Arcade Plaid Woven in Acorn (135 gsm)
Back: Fableism Sun Stripes in Senora (140 gsm)
Binding and ties: Fableism Sun Stripes in Mirage (140 gsm)
Quilter’s Dream Request Lightweight Cotton Batting

Helpful Tools and Notions

Fresh sewing needles (Microtex 80/12 for piecing quilting cotton; Microtex 90/14 or even 100/16 for quilting, depending on how bulky your fabric is)
Walking foot to prevent fabric layers from shifting around while quilting
Hera marker (or butter knife) or temporary fabric marking pen to draw in quilting lines
Curved safety pins and/or basting spray
Clover Wonder clips or small binder clips

Quilting

I knew that I wanted my quilting lines to follow the design lines of the plaid, so I laid out that fabric first, marked my desired center point, and traced the scallop outline using the pattern piece.

I used a Hera marker to draw quilting lines through the plaid intersections to make ~3.5” squares (it’s easier to draw lines before making a squishy quilt sandwich).

I cut out the front piece with an extra ~1" beyond the outline to give myself room for shifting (the pattern has you cut out a circle, but my approach worked just fine and is useful if you’d like to align your quilting lines with the scallops). Then I rough cut a piece of batting a bit larger than the top and made my quilt sandwich.
I used pins to line up the lines of the plaid with the stripes of the backing fabric below to make sure that the stripes wouldn't be skewed with respect to my quilting lines.

I used pins to align the vertical lines of the plaid with the stripes on the back. You can also see here that I gave myself ~1” margin around the (faint) outline, and the batting is cut even larger.

P.S. remember to switch out your straight pins for curves safety pins so you don’t poke yourself endlessly while quilting.

Once I had everything pinned, I cut the backing fabric so it was the same size as the batting.

I usually cut my backing a bit larger than my batting so I can see all three layers at once and ensure my backing doesn’t shift and expose the batting, but since I already had an extra margin around the front fabric, it felt unnecessary.

I quilted the tree skirt using a walking foot and the recommended stitch length of 4.0 mm.

I began in the center and worked my way out, using my hands to smooth the fabric down and away from the previous stitch lines. I sewed all of the parallel lines in the same direction, then sewed the intersecting lines.

Once I finished quilting, I trimmed everything down to size using the pattern piece.

Closures

I didn’t add ties to the center circle because I wanted to align them with the plaid design. For my next make I will add ties to the center circle because it was tough to get both ends of the circle bound precisely so the edges match. That said, you’ll only notice that if you’re a perfectionist.
I recommend attaching the ties to the side you think you will use the most for a flat, flush closure. There will be a gap on the reverse side and takes more finesse to get the bows to look nice.
If you are using buttons and want your tree skirt to be reversible, you’ll need to place buttons and loops on BOTH sides of the skirt (i.e., you’ll need twice the number you think).

Tie closures on the side they’re attached to.

Tie closures from the other side—notice the gap.

Binding

Scallops are tricky to bind neatly! Syd recommends using the full seam allowance and adding a bit of tension to the binding while sewing concave curves, then transitioning to sewing a scant seam allowance on the convex curves. Go slowly!

I have some looseness/waviness on the concave curves, but a steamy press helped a lot.
I ended up with some puckers/bubbles on the convex curves because it was difficult to manage the seam allowance along the curves AND keep the quilt flat at the same time. In the future, I might baste the scalloped edges just inside the outline before cutting and see if that helps keep everything flat during binding.

Press the binding away from backing before wrapping it around to the front. Remember to pull the binding just past the previous stitch line. I used a longer (~3.0 mm) topstitching length for nicer looking stitches.

I tended to pull the binding too far on the convex curves, which meant that my stitches went off the binding and are visible on the back of the quilt in a few places. It’s more of a concern if your binding color contrasts with your backing.

Examples of waviness along the concave curves.

You can see some puckering on the convex curves.

Example of what stitching off the binding looks like on the back (not too noticeable, even with contrasting thread).

Notes for Next Time

Try basting the scallops just inside the outline after quilting but before cutting to see if it makes binding easier.
Add ties around the center circle for a neater look.

Kalli has already claimed this as her own. I’ll be lucky if she allows us to put any presents on her quilt!

Keep In Touch

Thanks very much for reading! If you’d like in-person support and instruction, please sign up for my classes at Modern Domestic or reach out to schedule a private lesson. If you have any questions, feedback, or corrections regarding this post, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

connie tree skirt test