Tea Party Tablecloth for Child Size Ikea Table

My daughter has been into two things lately: bugs (?!) and tea parties.  The bugs I won’t discuss, other than to say that I’ve never seen a three-year-old girl who is more excited to stick her chubby little fingers into the mud and pick up all kinds of creepy crawlies (I know, right?!).

I’ve been letting the hubs enjoy that particular fascination with her, while I take care of the tea parties (which are much more my area of expertise.  Except when she announces that she’s serving spider and chocolate chip tea to her teddy bears and I…  And yes, that’s been happening a lot lately.)

Anyway.

For Easter this year I decided to load her up with all the tea party goodies she could ever want, instead of loading her up with processed sugar and chocolate (never a good combo in this house).  This included a new tea set, some pretend sweets, and a pint-sized tablecloth to cover up her yucked-up craft table!!  (Mommy couldn’t be happier about that extra bonus.)

There are so many ways you could do this.  In fact, at first I was going to make it a fitted tablecloth, but then I started thinking about the child size oval table that will (hopefully) be handed down to Maddy someday.  This tablecloth will fit both our current cheapy square Ikea table (only $20 for a table and two chairs!  Good for when they’re young and want to color on every possible surface), as well as the antique oval one.  ^_^  Cool beans.

To make one of your own, here’s what you’ll need:

(Yeah, I know that’s not technically a fabric marker.)  =P  You will also need pins for this project.  I can never seem to remember everything for the picture, can I?  Bleh.

step 1: Drape the fabric that will be the top piece over the table, but make sure it’s upsidedown.  Along all of the four edges, mark directly where the fabric falls over the side.

step 2: Cut about 1/4 of an inch below the lines you marked.  This will act as your seam allowance.

step 3: When your top piece is completely cut out, lay it over the fabric that will become the sides of your tablecloth, and trace the shape of the top piece.  I always do this by marking the corners of whatever fabric I’m trying to duplicate.  (And yes, the hubs jumped in to help.  He enjoys helping me make things for Maddy.  But shhhhh… You didn’t hear it from me.)  ^_-

step 4: After I mark the corners, I then connect the lines with my ruler.  I find that if I don’t do it this way, I end up with a wonkily-shaped piece of fabric.

step 5: Once the top shape is duplicated, divide that second piece in half and mark it right down the middle.

step 6: Cut the entire shape out.  (By the way, do you notice all the extra lines?  Yeah, that’s because I gave my hubs the wrong measurements, lol.  My brain just isn’t wired for math…)

step 7: Cut your second shape in half.  I simply lined the two shapes up in this picture to show you what you should have at this point.

step 8: Match up the two side of the tablecloth to the long sides of the top fabric.  Then use your ruler to measure the length of the short sides (19” in my case).  Make a square of fabric using that measurement, then cut that that square in half and match these shapes to the smaller sides.  (All this is clear as mud, eh?)

step 9: Just because I know how confusing those last few steps were, here’s a visual of what I meant.  Long sides matched to long sides, short sides matched to short sides.  =]

step 10: Grab your side fabric from the bottom edge and flip it on top of the top fabric, so that the right sides are together.  Pin into place.

step 11: Sew your side piece to your top piece.

step 12:  Once again, flip your second side piece onto your top piece – right sides together – and pin/sew in place.  Repeat this process until all four sides are sewn onto the top piece.

step 13: Lay your entire tablecloth right side up.  Measure and cut the amount of dyed lace you will need for the bottom edges, and once again lay the two fabrics right side together.  As before, pin in place.  (If you’re unsure how to antique fabric easily and without chemicals, see my antiquing tutorial.)

step 14: Sew the lace onto the bottom edges.

step 15: (If you’d prefer a fitted tablecloth, feel free to skip ahead to step 19.)  Cut two squares that are the same measurements as the empty, inside corners of the tablecloth.

step 16: Cut both of these squares in half diagonally, leaving you with four triangles (one for each corner).

step 17: Cut a length of lace for the bottom edges of each of the four triangles.

step 18: Again, flip the lace on top of the triangle shapes, right sides together.  Pin the lace and sew into place.  Do this for all four triangles.

step 19:  Right sides together, line up the edges of the lace on the tablecloth, as well as the lace one of the triangle shapes.  Pin in place.  (If you’re making a fitted tablecloth, do the same as shown above, but instead match up the corners instead of adding the triangle pieces.)

step 20: Then move on to straightening and pinning the upper piece above the lace.  Doing it this way simply helps keep everything in line.

step 21: Sew the pinned edge into place.

step 22: Once again, make sure that the right sides of your fabric are together.  Pin the other side of the triangle/lace piece to the loose corner-edge of the tablecloth.  Repeat steps 19 through 22 for all remaining corners.

And that’s it!!  I know my instructions were a tad confusing at times, so hopefully the picture above will help clear things up.

 

Time for some tea party fun!!

The Easter Bunny took a bite of our cake.  He thought it was the real thing… ^_-

 

 

 

 

A cinnamon roll made from a sponge cut in half, then rolled up and hot-glued in place.  The frosting was made from white puffy paint.  =]

I hope you and your little one enjoy your tea party tablecloth for years to come!!  Thanks again for crafting with me, everyone.  ^_^

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