A homemade tablecloth can be tailored to fit your home's decor.
With some creative inspiration, the possibilities of a tablecloth can be endless. Whether you have an old tablecloth lying around your home that is no longer used, or you simply fancy making your own tablecloth, there are plenty of ideas to try. With these projects, you can turn tablecloths into gifts or decorative pieces for your home.
Children's Project
Have children work together to decorate a plain tablecloth. Each child is given a small square to decorate using fabric markers and paint. The children can be guided by a theme or helped with stencils. The tablecloth makes a special keepsake for family celebrations and holidays.
Leaf Print
A leaf print tablecloth captures the natural beauty of autumn all year. Leaves are used to print patterns on tablecloth fabric. Create a leaf print border or cover the tablecloth with prints of different colors and sizes of leaves. Get a sponge brush, and gently paint the veined underside of each leaf with fabric paint. Place the leaf face down onto a plain, light-colored tablecloth. Cover the leaf with a piece of paper, and gently roll over the top with a rolling pin, keeping the paper steady so that the paint does not smudge. Lift up the paper and leaf carefully, then repeat with a new leaf and piece of paper. Wait 24 hours before heat-setting the paint with a medium-high iron.
Tea Towels
Tea towels can easily be sewn together to form a tablecloth.
Tea towels, needle and thread are all that is needed. Measure the table to decide on the tablecloth size and number of tea towels you will need. Pin the edges of the tea towels together so that a large rectangle is formed. Stitch the tea towels together, sewing the short sides first.
Festive Holiday
Measure the tabletop you want to cover and add an inch all around. For example, if the table is circular, measure the diameter. If the table is rectangular, measure the length and width of the top. Cut out the tablecloth top from red felt using these measurements.
Next, cut the sides from red felt. If the tabletop is circular, measure the circumference with an added one inch. If the table is rectangular, you will need to determine the perimeter: 2(length + width); you will add one inch to that figure also. Measure the desired drop of the tablecloth with an added half-inch.
The tablecloth drop should be measured from the table edge to a few inches from the floor. Hold the short ends of the red felt tablecloth sides in place using pins, before stitching with a half-inch seam to form a tube shape. Pin the top to the sides before stitching together with a half-inch seam and turning right side out, so that the stitching cannot be seen.
Measure and cut out desired festive tree shapes from white felt, and place evenly around the sides before securing to red felt with fabric glue.
Tags: your home, before stitching, circular measure, from felt, half-inch seam, leaf print