24 September 2012

DIY Scalloped Fitted Tablecloth

Let me just start by saying that this was the DIY from hell, but I'm glad I went through the painful process so that I can report to you on what NOT to do.  More on that in a minute...

As I mentioned in Friday's post, I pulled out my favorite vintage tablecloth after I accidentally scratched our kitchen table top and almost sent my husband into cardiac arrest.  Well, my poor vintage tablecloth took a wicked beating and I decided maybe I'll hold off on vintage linens for another, ehh, 15 years?  By then our young will be grown and hopefully able to eat a meal without ketchup handprints or spilled blueberry juice.  In the meantime, I have a fantastic excuse to use oilcloth, which I have always love love loved.  Not only does oilcloth come in an array of fantastic vintage prints, but it is also a great stain proof surface that is easily cleaned and very inexpensive to replace, if needed.  I had originally taken photos for my steps, but they turned out to not be very effective steps and my mama and I redid the tablecloth yesterday evening after a botched job the first time around!  I have written some instructions with simple illustrations.


And voila.  







Learn from my mistakes:

Buy oilcloth with cloth backing.  I didn't realize that there was no cloth to my oil and it's basically like a sheet of plastic, which is why the light shines through it and also why I had to bobby pin the scallops overnight to get them to fall the way I wanted.  And why I wanted to jump out a window yesterday.  

Cut the scallop trim on the bias.  It will look better in the end.

Make a stencil.  Don't skip this step.  It's crucial to having even scallops.

Once you have sewn the trim to the round tabletop piece, make slits perpendicular to the seam to enable the tablecloth to lay flat.




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