The Real Thing vs. Mini

Monday is usually the day I do "deep" housecleaning. Today I got the brilliant idea that I should hang new valances in our bedroom. Yes, the real bedroom. It took about 2 hours.

I won't bore you with the real thing. These curtains are already done and much nicer than the big ones.

My daughter always says the same thing when I do anything that she likes in miniature. "Can't you make that in real size for me, Mom?" My answer is......."No way!" These mini ones took hours and hours to make. Can you imagine how long they would take in real life?

I also don't very often do real tablecloths. Especially round ones. This one is done on a form that fits over the cylinder at the left. When it is closed it makes a great hiding place for mini things.

The two forms were a couple of the cardboard cores from crochet thread. They just happened to be the right size for one to fit inside the other. I covered the smaller one with plain fabric.

For the larger one, I cut a circle of fabric that was two times the height of the table + the diameter of the top to cover. I edged that with fray check. I cut a piece of cardboard to fit over the top form and glued it on. Then I centered that on the wrong side of the circle of fabric.

I glued the fabric to the form in 4 lines on opposite sides. Then when that dried I did it again between the first 4 lines. That makes 8 equal pleats in the fabric. I let that dry. Then to make it look real, I had to do it a third time. When you put a round tablecloth on a real table it will fall in 16 pleats. I think it has something to do with how the fabric is woven.

After that I took a smaller square of contrasting fabric and fringed the edges. I laid that over the already glued round cloth and glued it down. I kept the straight of grain on both pieces lined up.

The last step is to do a bit of trimming on the bottom to make it even all around if it isn't already.

Feel free to try it. This method has been around for years. A lot of people use juice cans. I like a larger diameter, thus the different core. If you have any questions, just ask.