How to make a fitted table cloth

We have a beautiful, large dinning room table. I really needs a make over but I haven’t been that adventurous yet but in the mean time I just use table cloths. Since this table currently serves dual purpose of being our dinner table and our craft table I wanted a table cloth that I can wipe down. I bought a round vinyl table cloth from the dollar store but since this table is so big it only over hung the edges a few inches which looks horrible and slips off all the time. My solution was to make a fitted table cloth.

I went back to the dollar store and got 2 table clothes - a round one and a rectangle one. First I put the round table cloth on the table and with a marker, marked the edge of the table for the correct size, then trimmed leaving 1/2″ seam allowance. With the rectangle table cloth I cut out 3, 5″ bands.

I sewed all the bands together to make one long strip. Then starting about 2″ from one edge of the band I sewed the band all around the round table cloth. Once I got an inch or so from the other end I stopped sewing. Then I took the 2 ends of the band and fit them together and then sewed the seam and trimmed the extra away. Then I sewed the remaining few inches around the table cloth. I find this method of sewing around something much easier then measuring the band to fit exactly as things can stretch while sewing and measuring around a circle is annoying.

Finally I hemmed the edge of the table cloth and then with a low heat iron and a pressing cloth I ironed it.

It works great - the kids can craft on it without it slipping around and it can be easily wiped down for dinner time. It was a great solution that only took 20 mins to make and cost $4.