Determing the Length and Width of the Table Cloth

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Beth Bates
Creative Director of The Sew Teacher, The Sew Teacher
Sewteacher.com  
 

 

Sewteacher.com is a grassroots business created by and designed for working professionals, stay at home moms, amateur decorators, and anyone who is interested in creating original decorative and functional products for their home.  

 

The Sewteacher philosophy is based on the idea that quality home decorative goods and professional sewing products aren't only for those who can afford to hire high-priced decorators and seamstresses.  The DIY or do-it-yourself movement is growing as quality goods become more expensive to buy, and more consumers across the nation are seeking ways to make their own products in a more cost effective manner.  The added benefit of the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that comes from designing and making your own home goods only adds to this growing phenomena.  We here at Sewteacher firmly believe in the do-it-yourself attitude, and our goal is to help you design and produce your own home decorative products such as pillows, window treatments, bedding, using the same methods and tools the professionals use, at a fraction of the cost!       

 

Sewteacher instructional videos feature our Creative Director, Beth Bates, a professional seamstress with many years experience making window treatments, bedding and pillows.  Beth will walk you through the steps in a calm, relaxed manner, using easy to understand instructions and examples, all the while giving you special insider seamstress tips and suggestions.  Beth will show you how the professionals do it, so you don't have to hire them to do it for you! 

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Determing the Length and Width of the Table Cloth

This video will show how to determine the length and width of a tablecloth.

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Transcripts

Beth Bates: Hi, I am Beth Bates with SewTeacher.com. Today, I am going to teach you how to make a lined tablecloth. The very first thing we need to do is measure the length and your width of your table. For demonstration purposes I have drawn a tabletop here and you will take your ruler and of course you will measure the length and your width. Okay, then you need to figure out how much excess fabric you want to hang off the sides. This is called the drop, the part of the fabric that will come down off the table.

I suggest you actually fit at the table you are sewing the tablecloth for, to make sure you don't have too much excess fabric sitting in your lap. You don't want your guest sitting at the table and get up and swipe the whole table clean. So after you determine that, come on back to probably in your case a piece of paper but for this purpose the dry erase board and go ahead and determine your finished length.

Now for demonstration purposes the type of table square I am making today is for a 30 inch round table and I wanted to hang 12 inches off at the corner on either side so I take my calculator. It's 30 inch round plus 12 plus 12 equals 54. So I am going to be making a table square or a lined tablecloth 54 inches x 54 inches. Okay, it's actually about a yard and a half. So let's go ahead and get started on our tablecloth.

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