Tutorial - Girly Tablecloth With Eyelet Trim

Remember this girly tablecloth I used for my Valentine's Day table?  As promised, I wanted to share with you my tutorial on how I made this.  Since I am a new sewer, I don't know if I'll be using the proper terminology for sewing, but this just shows you that anybody can create this tablecloth!  With fabric, cute trim, a sewing machine, and a lot of pins, I promise that this is something you can make even if you are not a very good sewer.  I simply sewed an eyelet trim around the border of a hemmed piece of fabric!  But if you are like me and need step by step instructions and some photos, here it is!

First of all, I wanted to let you know that this tablecloth is made for a small table.  The table I used is the children's SANSAD table from Ikea. It measures Length 39 3/8 " by  Width 23 5/8 ":

I started off using a white fitted twin sheet that I got on clearance from Target.  I do not have any photos of this since it was not a pretty process!  I just kept cutting it down until each side looked straight to me, and I hemmed each side and what I ended up with was a plain white tablecloth that measured 54" x 33".  So if you wanted, you could simply buy a yard and half of fabric from the craft store and trim it down to the size you need.  

Once you have the finished, hemmed piece of fabric, lay it down on the floor or somewhere you have lots of space. 

Measure it and determine the amount of trim you need.  Since my tablecloth was 54" x 33", I needed a total of 174 inches of trim to sew around the whole tablecoth.  Since trim is sold by yard, I divided 174 by 36 and came up with 4.8333 yards.  To be safe, I bought 5 yards of trim, and surprisingly, I used all of it!  So make sure to buy extra!  I'm sure it has something to do with the corners, but it is better to have more trim than less!  I bought this beautiful eyelet trim from Jo-Ann, and thankfully I had a 50% off coupon.  The trim was $2.99 a yard so it can add up, but with the coupon I ended up spending less than $8 for the 5 yards.

Now that you have the trim and your plain tablecloth laid out on the floor, you need to pin the trim to the tablecloth.  Make sure you have the tablecloth with the hemmed side up (the part that you don't want to be seen). And you have the trim also with the hemmed side up. Lay the trim on one corner of your tablecloth, but leave about an inch and a half to connect the end of the trim later, like this:

Pin the trim all the way down the side like this:

Once you get to the corner, make sure you pin the trim around the corner, leaving no openings.

Pin all the way around the entire tablecloth, until the ends meet.

Join the ends and pin them together.

Now it is time to sew using your sewing machine!  Take your pinned tablecloth and sew around the whole border.

Stop sewing when you get to where the ends of the trim are pinned.  You will still have a small opening at that part since it is easier to hand stitch while the trim is not fully sewed to the tablecloth. 

Hand sew the pinned trim together.

Once the trim is hand sewn together, go back to the sewing machine and finish sewing the trim to the tablecloth.  And you will be finished!

Can't wait to show you how I used this table at Brody and Skylar's Birthday Party!  Stay tuned!  I hope to share photos very soon!

Linking Up: