Saturday, April 10, 2010

Sewn: Pieced polka dot tablecloth and napkins

Now that my office/sewing room has been reorganized (I'll post pictures when the doors to our storage finally come in), I have space to create once again! Hooray! After completing some mending projects, I set off to cut into some of the fabric purchased at last year's Stoffmarkt (fabric market). I knew I wanted to create a tablecloth and napkins, but I wasn't sure about the design...it took me a while to figure it all out!

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I had seen this tutorial for a pieced tablecloth last fall and had filed it away for 'one day'. It ended up being a great springboard for what I ended up making! I also used their clean finish corner tutorial to make neat corners on my tablecloth. I wish I had also used it with the napkins, but oh well. If you haven't checked out the Sew4Home sewing site, you should - it's got tons of great home dec projects with well-photographed guides; perfect for a beginner like me!

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We're really happy with the end result! I have to say cutting the fabric was REALLY hard for me. Not only was I trying to do it on the floor (long story), but I discovered it had been cut and printed crooked, so once I tore off the edges to at least find the grain, I then had to just tell myself to 'deal' w/crooked prints and ignore them so my project would hang properly. Then I realized I should have used less tension in my stitching on the center panel of the tablecloth; it puckers here and there and no amount of ironing will get it to chill out, so unless I want to have a seam-ripping party, I'm going to have to live with it. I also must improve on my straight-seam skillz. This is mainly due to my impatience and desire to see it finished, no matter how crooked it looks. I need to slow down!!

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But it's super cute! I love the little white polka dots next to the white pom-pom trimmed chair pads! I love that making napkins is easy, and I'm definitely going to make more. I just plan to make them bigger next time...a little 'oops' of mine for making them only 17" (43cm) square this time around!

If you'd like to make this tablecloth, here are the measurements I used for my Björkudden Ikea table. Keep in mind this is for our little kitchen table, meaning I didn't want a long, formal overhang! *I did my measurements in metric just because I have a hard time with math and it's easier for me to deal w/metric decimals rather than Imperial fractions.

The finished tablecloth is 150cm x 105 cm (or roughly 59"x 41"), allowing for a 15cm (~6") overhang on all sides.

* 2 panels (mine were red) 48.5 x 156cm (or ~19" x 61")
* 1 panel (mine was floral) 22 x 156cm (or ~9" x 61")

My napkins were supposed to be 50 x 50cm, but I ended up making them only 17" square, which is really too small, I think. That's what I get for mixing Metric and Imperial with my own little ideas of how big an informal cloth napkin needs to be, but live and learn, right?!

Assemble using the applicable sections of this tutorial, finishing your outer hem and corners with this tutorial. Assuming you don't have the freak-out problem I do when it comes to cutting fabric (ie, I measure about 400 times before I cut), the table cloth and four napkins should take you just a morning or afternoon to complete. Yay for finished projects!

14 comments :

Kerry Luddy said...

Very cheery, Juliette! After I graduate, I hope to do some creating of my own (but not sewing, though I want to learn!).

Lucy said...

Oh, I love the fabric! Nice job!!!!!!!

paulafrances said...

this is cool! I love red, it is my favorite color and also, love polka dots but I hate doing corners/ lol
((**))

penandview said...

you are amazing. I am way too product over process to even start with a drawing. I would have just began cutting and sewing...puckered seams and all.

MS said...

I agree! Very cheery indeed. I too love the red with white polka dots next to your white pom pom chair seats! Keep up the creativity. It's inspiring.

Carolyn said...

So cute! I want to learn to sew! But, Deutsch comes first. Hope you're having a good weekend.

Karoliina said...

We've worked on several C-R-A-Z-Y projects these past few weeks (and had the stomach flu). I think you and I will have some good times ahead of us this summer. I'm thinking fabric stores...

lou said...

This turned out super fabulous! Such a great sewing project for spring! I like it!

Barb said...

Love it -- nice job!! A rotary cutter and mat are soooo wonderful for cutting straight lines. Ever seen them?

Juliette said...

Barb - yes! =) they are great! I used them for all the smaller cuts, but maybe should've used them for the big cuts too (w/lots of folding). =)

Katie @ makingthishome.com said...

Oh my gosh - could your table be any cuter? Thanks for sharing the process with us. I got that same red fabric at the fabric market. Everything looks fabulous together. Cutting on the floor? I totally know what you're saying.
And as always, I think of you any time I see pom pom trim somewhere - so cute.
Katie

Katie @ makingthishome.com said...

note to Katie: read the German text that pops up when you try leaving comments. do not just skim over it because it's in German.

Sorry, Juliette!

Juliette said...

Katie - you got stuff auf Deutsch? weird. you know if you set up your GMail to default to English, all blogs set up in English should show up in English...hm

Allison said...

Really super cute! I'm glad to see that you are putting your sewing machine to good use... mine has been a little silent these days, but I've got a few projects lined up. Hard decisions, though... nap with the baby or create... hmmm!

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