(Almost) No Sew Table Skirt

Our first order of business in the Craft Room Makeover was Mom's big ugly table. It was well on the way to acceptability with its paint job and accompanying glossy black chair, but it was still lacking. It takes up a lot of space in the room and more storage (for all those kiddie toys and scraps of paper) was a definite priority, so we decided we'd make a table skirt to give Mom lots of hidden storage.

I bought lining material from Jo-Ann's (lining = cheap) and some Heat N Bond and set about making a table skirt without making too much fuss.

The first step was measuring the material out - I saw a little trick on Young House Love where Sherry used the edge of a rug to make sure her cuts were perfectly straight - so I measured out two identical panels for the sides of the table and two matching panels that would meet in the middle of the front of the table, using the edge of a rug as a guide.

I had planned to staple the top edge of each panel behind the lip of the table, so I only added a hem allowance to three sides. Heat N Bond hem tape is a fabulous thing. Have you used it?? It is SO much easier than using a sewing machine. The roll I used to do this whole project cost around $3.50 (before using my 40% off coupon.)

You just iron your hem, slip the Heat N Bond in your little pocket and press down. About 20 minutes later, I had four finished panels, ready for stapling.

Here's the (almost) no sew part: I wanted Mom to be able to access underneath the table easily, so I decided one section of the table skirt should be Velcro'd (apparently not a word) on. Problem is that Velcro is only available in either sticky back or sew-on. I wanted both; one half sticky (to go on the table) and one half sew-on (to attach to the fabric). So I bought a roll of each and combined them. Does that make sense?

So that was it! We spent roughly $20 (on paint, fabric, Heat N Bond and Velcro...and we have most of the paint left) to take this table from side of the road cast-off to kid-friendly and craft ready. Oh and this was our most expensive project!

Great for storage AND hide and go seek!