Cheer up the kitchen table in an instant with this pretty tablecloth. All you need is a piece of white cotton sheeting and leftover scraps of gingham.


You'll need:
White cotton fabric
Cotton gingham
Needle and basting thread
Cotton sewing thread
Iron-on interfacing
Sewing scissors
Sewing machine

Here's how:
1. Cut the white fabric to suit the size of your table, allowing for a drop of approximately 20cm on each side. Then cut four strips of gingham 20cm wide and 2cm longer than each side of the tablecloth.



2. Place the white fabric and one gingham strip right sides together, so that the long side of the gingham is 8cm away from the edge of the white fabric and overlaps it by 1cm at each side. Baste the fabrics together. Press. Fold over a 1cm hem on the long raw edge of the gingham. Then fold the gingham in half lengthways, enclosing the edge of the white fabric. Baste then stitch in place.



3. Trim away the excess gingham from one end of the border, leaving the overlap on the other end. Baste the second gingham border in position as in step 2.



4. Before stitching the hem of the second border, fold over the overlapping gingham to create a hem in line with the first border and baste the secure.

5. Continue to finish the second border, basting the edges down. Repeat this process on the remaining two edges to create two more gingham borders. Finally, sew all the edges into position using either a straight machine stitch or a hand-sewn slipstitch.

6. Place the remaining gingham right side down and using a soft pencil, draw around a plate on the fabric. Draw and cut out several circles in this way. Back them with iron-on interfacing, following the manufacturer's instructions. Peel the backing paper off and iron the gingham circles on to the right side of the tablecloth. Applique each circle to the cloth using a machine zigzag stitch around the edge. Alternatively, turn a tiny hem under the edge of each circle, then hand stitch to the cloth.

Source: Kitchen Projects in a Weekend (Merehurst)