Free Crochet Christmas Tree Skirt Beginners Pattern

Worsted weight yarn takes this crochet christmas tree skirt easy free from foundation ring to finished floor cover in a weekend rather than a fortnight. Stop wherever the diameter suits your tree, since nothing about the shaping depends on hitting a set row number.

A tree skirt that ruffles at the edge means too many increases per round, and a skirt that cups upward means too few, so this free crochet christmas tree skirt beginners pattern holds the increase count steady the whole way out. It works flat in the round with an opening down one side so the skirt sits around the trunk. Chunky yarn covers the ground fast. Stop increasing whenever the diameter matches your tree stand rather than following a fixed row count.

Crochet Christmas Tree Skirt

If you have made a scarf and nothing else, this is a good next step. There is one stitch in the whole thing. Double crochet, over and over, in straight rows that get a little longer each time. No shaping to guess at, no seaming, no pieces to line up. The only new idea is that you add ten stitches per row in a spaced-out way, and that spacing is what turns a flat rectangle into a big round skirt that lies under a tree. Chunky yarn and a large hook mean it grows fast enough to stay interesting.

Countdown Block

• One skirt at a beginner pace: 10 to 14 hours. That is three or four evenings if you have decent stretches, or a week of an hour here and there. The rows get long near the end. Row 1 takes ten minutes, row 17 takes closer to forty, and knowing that in advance stops it feeling like you are slowing down.
• Six skirts is 60 to 80 hours, which is a lot for a beginner. If you are making gifts, three is a realistic December target and even that means starting in early November.
• Latest safe start: ten days before you want it under the tree, working most evenings. Five days if you go with a 40-chain base for a smaller skirt and skip the top-edge trim. There is no drying or blocking time to build in, so the finish date is genuinely the day you fasten off.

Pieces List

• Main skirt body: 1, worked flat in rows
• Crab stitch trim on the outer edge: 1 round
• Crab stitch trim on the neck edge: 1 round

That is the whole list. Nothing gets sewn to anything.

Materials

• Two skeins of worsted weight yarn for the body, held double-stranded, plus two of white for the trim, also doubled. Or skip the doubling and use one strand of bulky yarn throughout, which is easier on the hands and simpler to keep track of. Hook 8.0 mm, the size marked L-11. Yarn needle and scissors.
• Holding two strands together just means you pull from two balls at once and treat the pair as a single yarn. It feels awkward for about five minutes. Keep the balls in separate bowls or bags so they do not twist around each other.

Beginner Technique Notes

Working in the back ridge loops

Turn your foundation chain over and look at the back. You will see a row of little bumps running along it. Row 1 goes into those bumps rather than into the front of the chain. It is slightly fiddlier and worth doing, because it leaves a tidy edge on the neck of the skirt that you will later put trim onto. If you cannot find the bumps, work into the top of the chain as normal. The skirt will still be fine.

The turning chain that counts as a stitch

At the start of every row you chain 3, and that chain counts as your first double crochet. This trips up almost everyone once. It means you do not work another stitch into the base of it, and at the end of the following row you must work into the top of that chain, which looks like a tight little loop rather than a proper stitch. Miss it and you lose a stitch every row without noticing until the circle stops lying flat.

What an increase is

Two double crochets worked into one stitch. That is it. The stitch below gets used twice, and your total count goes up by one. Every row of this pattern contains ten of them, evenly spread out.

The offset rule

Do not stack an increase directly on top of last row’s increase. If you do, the extra stitches all pile into the same six lines and the skirt comes out hexagonal instead of round. Shifting where the first increase sits by a stitch or two each row is enough to break the pattern up. Also never put an increase in the very last stitch of a row, because it distorts the straight edge that becomes the front opening.

Stitch markers

Put a marker in every increase as you make it. Ten markers per row. It sounds like overkill and it is the single thing that will save you from unpicking. On the next row you can see instantly where last row’s increases sat, which makes offsetting them easy instead of a guessing game.

The Pattern

Sizing Before You Start

• The base chain works in multiples of 10 plus 2 extra chains.
• A 50-stitch base as written gives roughly a 26 to 28 inch finished diameter, which is about 13 to 14 inches from the neck to the outer edge across 17 rows.
• For a bigger tree or thinner yarn, start with 60, 70 or 80 base chains, always adding the 2 extra.
• Every row adds exactly 10 stitches. Row 1 is 50, row 2 is 60, row 3 is 70, and it continues that way to the end.

Main Skirt Body

• Make a slip knot with your doubled yarn (or single bulky strand) and place it on the hook.
• Chain 52. That is 50 base chains plus 2 extra.
• Row 1: find the 4th chain from the hook, since the 3 skipped chains count as your first double crochet, then work 1 dc into the back ridge loop of that chain. [1 dc plus the ch-3]
• Row 1 continued: work 1 dc into the back ridge loop of every remaining chain across. [50 sts] Lay it out straight. You should have a long flat strip with a clean bumpy edge along the bottom, and it should look far too narrow to become a circle. That is correct at this stage.
• Row 2: ch 3 and turn.
• Row 2 continued: work 1 dc in the 2nd stitch, then 2 dc in the 3rd stitch to make your first increase.
• Row 2 continued: repeat across, working 1 dc in each of the next 4 stitches then 2 dc in the next stitch, until only 2 stitches remain.
• Row 2 continued: work 1 dc in each of the last 2 stitches. [60 sts] The strip should now have a very slight curve when you lay it down, barely visible. If it is buckling already, you have put in more than ten increases.
• Row 3: ch 3 and turn.

• Row 3 continued: work 1 dc in each of the next 3 stitches, giving 4 stitches total including the turning chain, then 2 dc in the next stitch.
• Row 3 continued: repeat across, working 1 dc in each of the next 5 stitches then 2 dc in the next stitch, until 1 stitch remains.
• Row 3 continued: work 1 dc into the top of the turning chain from the previous row. [70 sts] The curve should now be clear when the piece rests on a table, with the first row pulling into a shallow arc rather than a straight line.
• Row 4: ch 3, turn, and work the same formula with increases spaced 6 dc apart. [80 sts]
• Row 5: ch 3, turn, increases spaced 7 dc apart. [90 sts]
• Row 6: ch 3, turn, increases spaced 8 dc apart. [100 sts] By here the shape should read unmistakably as a fan or part-circle lying flat on the floor. If it is cupping up at the edges you have missed increases. If the outer edge is ruffling and will not sit down, you have added too many.
• Rows 7 to 16: continue the same way, adding one more plain dc between increases on every row, and always adding exactly 10 stitches per row. [Row 7: 110 sts, Row 8: 120 sts, Row 9: 130 sts, Row 10: 140 sts, Row 11: 150 sts, Row 12: 160 sts, Row 13: 170 sts, Row 14: 180 sts, Row 15: 190 sts, Row 16: 200 sts]
• Row 17: ch 3, turn, and work the final row with increases spaced 19 dc apart. [210 sts] Spread the whole thing on the floor. It should be a near-complete circle with a straight gap where the two side edges meet, and a small round opening at the centre for the tree trunk.
• Fasten off the main colour.
• If you run out of yarn partway through a row, join the new strand with a fisherman’s knot rather than starting fresh at the row end. It keeps the ends down to almost nothing.

Crab Stitch Trim, Outer Edge

• Attach two strands of white yarn with a slip stitch at the end of row 17.
• Ch 1.
• Work reverse single crochet across the outer edge by inserting the hook into the stitch to the right, working backwards rather than forwards.
• Yarn over and draw up a loop to the left of the hook.
• Yarn over and pull through both loops on the hook.
• Repeat all the way along the outer rim. [210 sts] The trim should look like a twisted rope sitting along the edge. If it looks like an ordinary single crochet row, you are working in the wrong direction.
• Fasten off.

Crab Stitch Trim, Neck Edge

• Attach the white yarn at the top opening, working into the original foundation edge of row 1.
• Ch 1 and work the same reverse single crochet all the way around the neck. [50 sts]
• Fasten off. The neck should still slip over a tree stand base without stretching. Crab stitch has very little give, so keep the tension loose here.

Finishing the Ends

• There is no weaving in with this method, which is a relief on a project this size.
• Because you are holding two strands, separate the two tails at each corner. Thread one of them through a nearby loop on the wrong side of the work. Then tie both tails together in four tight knots against the back of the fabric. Trim close.
• Do this on the back only. The skirt lies flat on the floor and nobody sees the underside, but a knot on the top surface will catch on the tree stand every time you shift it.

Safety and Small Parts

• No safety eyes in this one, which makes it a straightforwardly safe first project. Still worth saying: if you decide to add buttons, bells or beads as decoration along the trim, leave them off entirely for any home with a child under three or a curious pet. A tree skirt sits at floor level, which is exactly crawling height, and small hard parts sewn to it are within easy reach for weeks.
• If you want decoration without the risk, embroider it. Chain stitch snowflakes or French knot dots along the white trim look good and cannot be pulled off. Do the embroidery after the trim is finished but before you tie off your ends, so you can bury the embroidery tails in the same knots.

The Character Dial: Rustic Versus Bright

• Two easy swaps, and they change the whole feel.
• Rustic. Change the trim from white to cream or oatmeal, and use a heathered or tweed yarn for the body instead of a solid. The flecks in a tweed do a lot of work here, breaking up the large plain area of double crochet so it does not read as a flat blanket. Deep forest green, dusty red or a warm grey all sit well under a real tree.
• Bright. Keep the white trim, and use a self-striping or ombre yarn for the body. Because the rows get longer as you go, an ombre creates uneven bands that widen toward the outer edge, which looks intentional and much more complicated than it is. Pillarbox red, emerald, or a hard candy pink for something less traditional.

Colourways Beyond Red and Green

• Winter Cabin. Charcoal body, cream trim. Reads as a rug more than a Christmas item, which means it survives into January without looking out of place.
• Sugar Frost. Pale ice blue body, white trim. Very good under a flocked or white tree, and it makes coloured lights look warmer by contrast.
• Gingerbread. Warm mid-brown body with cream trim. Quiet, and surprisingly good with gold or copper ornaments on the tree above it.
• Vintage Department Store. Deep burgundy body, gold or mustard trim. Skips the white entirely and looks older than it is.

Where It Lives

• Under the tree is the obvious answer, but it is not the only one. This is a big flat circle in nice yarn.
• Lay it under a large potted plant year-round as a floor mat. Use it as a round table topper under a centrepiece, with the neck opening hidden beneath the vase. Put it under a small tabletop tree, where a 26 inch skirt drapes over the table edge and looks deliberate. Spread it in a basket as a lining for a pile of blankets.
• One odd thing that only becomes obvious once it is in place: the front opening always ends up facing the wrong way. Whatever direction you set it, the presents get shuffled and by the third day the gap is at the front where everyone sees it. Position the opening toward the wall on day one and accept that it will migrate.

After the Season

• Shake it out well before you put it away, because pine needles work deep into double crochet and you will find them in July otherwise. If it has picked up sap or dust, hand wash cool and dry flat, since acrylic in this weight takes a long time to dry and will stretch if you hang it.
• Store it rolled rather than folded. A folded tree skirt develops hard creases along the fold lines that stay visible for the first week it is out next year, and rolling avoids that completely. A pillowcase or a large cotton bag is enough protection. Keep it out of the loft if you can, where damp gets into the fibres.

Quick Answers

• What if my circle will not lie flat? Count your increases on the last few rows. Ruffling and waving at the outer edge means too many, and cupping upward means too few. You want exactly ten added per row, no more and no less, and the fix is almost always to pull back one row and recount.
• Can I use a smaller hook and thinner yarn? You can, but it will take much longer and the fabric will be stiffer. If you go that route, use a bigger base chain like 70 or 80 plus 2, because thinner yarn makes shorter rows and you will need more of them to reach the same diameter.
• Do I have to hold two strands together? No. One strand of bulky yarn does the same job and is easier to keep track of, especially for a first project. The doubling is just a way of using worsted yarn you already have at a chunky gauge.
• What is crab stitch actually doing? It is a single crochet worked backwards, and it makes a firm twisted edge that stops the outer rim from stretching or flopping. You could finish with plain single crochet instead, but the edge will be softer and less defined.
• How do I know I am working into the turning chain properly? At the end of each row, look for the ch-3 from the previous row standing at the very edge. It looks tighter and slightly different from the stitches beside it. Push your hook into the top of it as if it were a normal stitch. If your count comes out one short at the end of a row, that is the stitch you missed.