More Burlap Projects: Ruffled BurlapTablecloth

 

I’m running around like crazy trying to get things done so I can go out of town for the weekend. My husband has a conference in L.A. all next week and he thought it might be fun if we got away alone for a couple of days, isn’t that sweet? 

But I wanted to share a little project that I made the other day. I was thinking about my Thanksgiving table, and wanted to do something with burlap but with a more polished twist. So I experimented and came up with this fitted tablecloth.

Now I am trying to come up with a sophisticated but simple centerpiece. 

• You can make this for any shape table. Measure your tabletop, then add 1 inch to each side of your table. So, my table was 52 inches round, I cute my burlap to be 54 inches wide.
•  My table was wider than the fabric width, so I had to add two panels two of the sides. I added the fabric to each side and sewed it to the main panel.
• Now you cut out the ruffle. I decided that I wanted about a 6 inch ruffle. So I cut 8 inch sections of the burlap and sewed them together into a continuous length. I joined the ends together to form a circle. I measured the total length around the table and doubled that amount for the length of the ruffle.

• Once I had a continuous circle of ruffle material, I hemmed the ruffle. 
• Then I laid the ruffle on top of the table shape. If you have a square or rectangular table, do this as well. You want to evenly distribute the ruffle along the length of the top of the table. So I took a place on the ruffle and pinned it to a place on the circle. Then I found the opposite side of the ruffle and pinned that to the opposite side of the circle. I did this on the four corners. 

• Then I started at one side of the circle and worked my way around the entire circle, pinning the ruffles evenly throughout. This takes a little while, but you want the ruffles to be uniform on all sides.
• Once you have it all pinned, go back to your table and put it on top of the table. Make sure it fits. 
• When you are satisfied that it is the right size, sew the ruffle on to the top of your tablecloth. I sewed the seam twice for strength.
• Then I ironed the ruffles to help them stay down instead of puffing out.
• And you are done!

And meanwhile, just so you don’t think my house is picture-perfect, this is what my craft room looks like right now. Frightening – I know.  I did manage to clean some of the rest of my house today — my in-laws are going to stay here while we are gone and I didn’t want to scare them too much 🙂

It’s been awhile since I’ve gone anywhere and I was thinking it might be fun to have an L.A. giveaway. Does that sound fun? I will look around tomorrow for some fun So. Cal. things to give to you. I’ll update you on Saturday.