Christmas Tree skirt - construction part 1

I took my 10 blocks and the black skirt fabric to Fibers today.  I don't own a table big enough for me to spread it out on, and I'm not going to crawl on the floor (I'd never get up again).

So after an hour of trimming the fans, pinning them into place, reposioning, re pinning, pinning the gold braid into place, we then stood back to admire the hard work.  (It's hot here now, got up to 30C today).
So here are the results.
The four photo's show it from different angles.  Now remember this is just pinned in place and may not be my final layout.  I do want to add a 1/2 inch border on the base of the fans, this will be done in a deep red colour and finish the hem of with a single gold row of stitching.  I also bought some red fabric as the backing fabric for under the skirt.  My friend Carol has the batting for the sandwich of the black and the red.

 The bundle of gold braid is left over, I actually have 12 meters there, and only about 3/4 of one left.

 Each alternate fan will have a large loop and the other alternates will have a small loop.

 At the base each will have a small loop to link them all together.

The gold braid is continuous with not joins anywhere. OK, so now what do you think of it so far, I still don't know what I'm going to do for the border yet, but I still have time for that, maybe a 1 inch strip of deep red material?  Does anyone have any suggestions for it?
Arlene