Rescuing the dining table: part 2 (+ tutorial)

It's time for Part 2 of the infamous dining table rescue!! 

Remember, I started out with this: 

 
Part 1 of the rescue involved sanding the top down and applying some fresh varnish. See the post here. 

I read once of a table cloth made out of tea towels, and the idea stuck in my mind. I toyed with buying one because it would involve less hassle, but I'm glad I chose to make my own. I can't remember where I got the inspiration from, but thank you www for providing it!

I designed this table cloth myself, with no pattern at all. I made it up as I went along. My dining table is a double drop-leaf table, which could sit about 6 people comfortably.

To make a table cloth that is roughly 52"x60" (132x152cm) you will need:

6 tea towels 20"x25" (65x50cm)
A long strip of fabric for the middle "runner"  14" x 62" (36x158cm)
Fabric scissors
Sewing machine
Sewing supplies

1. Select your tea towels. I bought these and two of these. I had a big bit of gingham fabric for another project, so I chopped off what I needed for that and was left with a long strip for this table cloth. Perfect!

2. Iron your fabric. 

3. Cut each tea towel into 3 bits, width-ways:

My patches were roughly 24x50 cm. Don't worry about cutting the hems off them. I left mine on. 

4. Lay out your patches and decide how you want to arrange them:

You could have the two sections either side of the runner identical, or mix them up like I did. I did stick to a 2 blue + 1 red rule though. 


5. At this stage it's a good idea to take a picture of your design laid out like above, so you can refer to it when you're patching them together. 

6. Take two patches, and put them right-side together, pin and sew along the length (the 50cm side), leaving a 1/2" seam allowance. Then take the next patch and pin and sew it to the two you just sewed together, according to your design. Don't worry about ironing the seams yet. 

7. Continue until you have 2 long strips of patches. 

8. If all has gone well, at this point, you should have two strips of patchwork that are equal in length (mine weren't).

9. Take one strip, and sew it to the middle-runner fabric, with right-sides together. Then add the second strip of patchwork on the other side of the runner-fabric.


10. I am a massively impatient patch-worker, and will skip steps wherever I can. So, I didn't add wadding/batting or backing to this project. Too much effort!!! 

Instead, I hemmed both ends of the table cloth. The long sides still had the original tea-towel hems, which means less work!

To do this, flip the whole thing so you have the wrong side facing you. Fold about 1/2" in around the edge, iron it down, and then fold it over again, and iron again. Then pin in place. Sew along the inside edge of the hem, so it is nice and secure. 

This made the cloth all lovely and finished-looking, as I decided to skip the wadding/batting and backing fabric. 

11. Finally, I ironed all the seams to one side. 


12. and yay! Your table cloth is ready!!

And a few more shots:

 

Total cost of the project: 

Sanding and varnishing the table: £2.90

Tea towel table cloth: 

- Tea towels: £2.70
- Gingham fabric - leftover: Free
- Sewing supplies all pre-owned: Free

 Progression shot:

                                                          
This project was completed for a total of £5.60, plus some hours of happily-expended-effort and some materials I already had or acquired for free. Result!! 

 

Now I just have to wait for my daffodils to flower to complete the look.