How to Make Different Sizes of Tablecloths

Making your own tablecloth requires only a few tools and a little time. Given the cost of table covers today, making your own is also very cost effective. Additionally, once you have created a pattern with your table measurements, it can be used to make any number of tablecloths in the future. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

Pattern DIY

1

Measure the top of your table. For rectangular and square tables this is the width and length of the table. For round tables, you can place one end of a measuring tape on one side of the table, then stretch the tape across the center of the table. Note the measurement. Divide that number in half and note the number. For oval tables, measure the width at the widest point of the table and measure the length at the longest end of the table. Divide those numbers in half and write them down.

2

Use pattern paper, newspaper taped together, old rolls of wrapping paper or large sheets of art paper. Using a straight-edge ruler and a marker for a square or rectangular table, draw a line down the center of the paper that is as long as the length measurement you took. At the center of that line, draw a line across it that is the width of the width measurement. Draw width lines on the top and bottom of the vertical line and make sure that they line up with one another on the paper. Now use those horizontal lines and draw the two remaining vertical lines to form the square or rectangular top of your table.

For a round table, make a pen mark in the center of the paper. Place the end of the measuring tape on that mark and measure out the inches that you came up with when you divided the width of the table in half. For example, if your table was 20 inches across and you divided and came up with ten inches, then you would measure out ten inches with the tape. Use a book or another heavy object to hold the end of the tape at the center mark and work your way around the paper in a circle with the measuring tape, drawing a line as you do. You will end up with a circle that is the size of the top of the table.

For an oval table, you will make a mark in the center of the table, as for round tables, but you will also make a cross through that mark, drawing a vertical line and horizontal line through the vertical line, with both lines being equal to the measurements that you took. Then starting at the top of the vertical line, simply draw a rounded line from the top of the vertical line to the first end of the horizontal line and repeat this process until you have an oval drawn on your pattern paper.

3

Measure the distance from the edge of the table top to your floor and determine how low you want your tablecloth to hang. There is no standard; it is a matter of choice. Write that measurement down.

4

Using the measurement from step 3, place your measuring tape on the outside line of your table top pattern and draw a line around the entire pattern that equals that measurement. For example, if you determined that you want your table cloth to hang down over the edge of the table by 24 inches, you would draw a line around the entire table top pattern that extends 24 inches past the pattern.

5

Place the pattern on the material that you have selected for your tablecloth and cut it out. You can add a hem in the material, or add a trim to the bottom, as desired.

Freestyle

6

Select the material that you want to use.

7

Place the material on the table so that it is centered.

8

Cut the material to the length that you desire all the way around the table.

9

Sew a 1/4 to 1/2 inch hem at the bottom of the cloth.