j+k+m+e

It’s always fun to start the new year off with a little pretty

Two years ago for Christmas, Marion got this little table and chair set from Ikea, still only $19.99

It’s been a good table that has served us well, that’s for sure

But, it’s a little plain, even with a monkey as your snacking companion

So I made a some little chair covers to jazz it up a bit

Which worked until this one turned it into an eating table. Manners, they’re not so much her strong point.

So let’s kick off the new year with a little sewing tutorial, making a tablecloth and chair covers for an Ikea Latt table!

You’ll need:
One piece of fabric 30 x 35 inches
Two pieces of fabric 12.5 x 20(ish) inches (the length varies depending on how long you want your chair covers to be)
Scissors or a rotary cutter
Cutting mat (although it’s not necessary, it makes life a lot easier!)

Take your large piece of fabric and fold it in fourth

Now this is important. Find the corner of your fabric that has NO FOLDS and cut out a square

Cut a square of 4.5 x 4.5 inches

Your unfolded fabric is going to look like this

Turn your fabric 1/4 inch under, iron, turn under another 1/4 inch, iron and sew in your hem. I used a zig zag stitch and bright thread for a little visual interest. That, and I’m lazy and the machine was already threaded with turquoise.

I used french seams on my table cloth because I know this is going to get washed a lot and I wanted to contain all the raw edges since I don’t have a serger. Usually I’m a much lazier sewer than this, but in this case, the extra step is worth it.

To do a french seam, you essentially make a shallow seam with wrong sides facing, then turn it right sides face and make a deeper seam, which encloses the first seam, making things all nice and neat

With wrong sides facing, bring the two sides of a corner together (the squares you cut out), and sew in a 3/8 inch seam

Trim

Then with right sides facing, put in a 1/2 inch seam

It will look normal on the outside

But nice and neat on the inside

Also, since I’m not very good at cutting straight lines or ironing accurately, my hems will inevitably not match up. To fix this, I prefer to sew my corners from the outside to the inside, which makes sure the hems at least look matched up, even if they aren’t.

Put it on the table, and presto, a table cloth!

Okay, so if you want to see a much better tutorial, I modified this idea from Prudent Baby’s DIY Changing Pad. Her pictures and instructions are much better than mine.

For the chair covers, figure out how long you want your cover to be, double that length, add an inch for the hems, then cut the fabric that long and 12.5 inches wide.

Put in the hem on the two 12.5 inch portions of the fabric

And sew up your two side seams. Or in my case, two sides and a top because I was using scraps. If you’re using two pieces of fabric, you’ll add another 1/2 inch to the length to make up for the top seam.

Presto chango, a new table cloth and chair covers!

I made Marion a fancy chair cover but before I could waste three hours making another one, I realized my kids are way too squiggly and anything covering the seat was just going to help them wiggle right off.

So Eliza just got a regular chair cover. Poor second child.

There you have it, the table top stays clean(er) and you have a fancy pants Ikea table for your kiddos.

And to prove how easy it was to make (and to double check my measurements)

I made another one by the time Josh had done the dinner dishes. Seriously, that easy. Putting in the darn hems took the longest time.

I hope your new year got off to a pretty start!