Good Housekeeping?

OK... So the Mystery House moved to the living room this morning.

And yes, I did clean the inside. Bottom to top.

Would you believe that Cordelia moved back home.

Just like all the others, she waits for me to do the work and then she claims the property...

 
 

This is her sewing loft.  Tessie keeps borrowing it.  Cordelia doesn't seem to want to do any sewing.

Too bad that Tessie doesn't have a sewing room in the townhouse.  She could use one.

The cleaning was all for naught.  I am planning to put the face of the house out. and decorate with snow and pines. 

Be patient.  I will get there.  All I have to do is figure out where I put all of the little trees...

Meanwhile, I decided to put Daisy's Cottage and Time Machine in the family room.

That way I can work on other things in the bedroom. 

As I said... Face out is best.  That way nobody can see what is happening inside.

Just ignore me.  I am making a bigger mess and having all kinds of fun.  Just as long as it gets finished by Christmas, I will be fine...

See you tomorrow.



A Bad Case of Unfinished-itis....

I have to find a cure!...

I went through the house this morning, looking at all of the things that I have done...And haven't done...

I found that I have a bad case of unfinished-itis. Any of you that follow me regularly, know this. 

Usually, I don't worry about it.  When December hits, I start.

We are in charge of having the family, Christmas day.  And I start wanting everything to look nice.  Especially the things that sit at eye level.

The craft cottage is the easiest of the bunch.  It just needs a bit of straightening and the finishing of the rug... No problem-o.

Then there is Tessie's Townhouse.  It looks like a tornado hit it a while back... That was when I moved it from one side of the room to the other.  I had it facing the wall for a while... Now it is facing out and will be seen by one and all...

Tessie is not happy.  No wonder she is trying to take over Daisy's cottage...

This will take a bit more time.  I have never finished the lighting in this one... Oops!

Problem number three, for those that are keeping track... The half inch Fairfield sits on top of a bookcase, in the workroom.  Not so much of a problem... But... I started it in the 80s and the wallpaper inside is horrible now.

It can slide down the list a ways, because I can always blanket it. 

I had a friend that used to say... People are coming.  Get out the blankets!  Then she would simply cover the unfinished items...

Then there is the Clockwork Cottage.  Also on a top shelf... To blanket or not to blanket... That is the question... It is probably the most unfinished of all of them.

The $9.00 Mystery House is probably in the best shape, but I keep borrowing things from there to put in other rooms...

No wonder the owner never comes home... She has been over at Eskiaga's Southwestern Room for a number of years now...

I think that I am going to have to go around and collect the things that other people borrowed from her house.  Then it will be in pretty good shape.

These two are not last or least, but they do need to be finished.  The one on the left is April's Russian Cottage. 

I am not to worried about that one because April doesn't have any room for it at her house yet...  One of these days...

Again, these two cottages sit on top of bookshelves.  Not at eye level.  The weaver's cottage doesn't need a lot of work.  Inside framing and a few pieces of furniture.  This will probably be the first one of the high houses that gets finished. 

Anyway, I am going to stop working on other things for a while... I will keep working on Daisy's Cottage.  That one is down low. 

I need to get the rest of these to look good for the holidays.  Somebody stand beside me and poke me with a pointy stick when I stop working.  I have a lot to finish this month... Wish me luck!  I'm going to need it.

See you tomorrow.

Trading Places....

What have I done??? I just found out that I am getting Tessie as an in room neighbor!

While I was sleeping, she somehow talked Cordelia into switching houses....That is, Cordelia will now be living in the townhouse that Tessie loathed. Tessie? She is moving into Cordelia's house with a few conditions.

She put a rider on the contract, saying that she had full use of the potion room, 24 hours a day and the same for the roof garden....I do believe that she is going to sneak in and use the bath too...Or she will talk Zar into letting her use the shower tower. There is no bathroom in the Mystery House(Cordelia's place).

Anyway, when I looked in on them the first time, there was Tessie packing. I had to pull Spike out of one of the larger boxes several times. She kept putting him back in. I finally told her that I would hand carry him to the new place. I don't see why she didn't just zap him over. That's what she did with everything else.


By the time I deposited Spike on the bed, she had zapped everything else over, including herself.

She didn't even have time to change positions before she arrived.

Perhaps I waited a fraction of a second too long. She also zapped my hand carved walnut be and dressing table into the room. She has had her eye on those two pieces for years.

As soon as she arrived, she started shouting at Spike, "Get off of my new bed, right now!!!"

She has been a busy bee. She also put in a chase to match the bed and a wardrobe. Hmmmmm...All new furniture. I do believe that she has been planning this for a while...Where's Cordelia?

Tessie did get a sewing loft out of the deal. She does like to sew.

After she got the bedroom settled, I found her and Spike in the kitchen area eating breakfast...By the way, if any of you are planning on moving and need boxes, Tessie bounced around on the computer keys with her pogo stick and came up with Sherree's site.
https://picasaweb.google.com/sherree2 That's where we both go for anything printed. She bounced down to the "Office Supplies" section and there found a sheet of six packing boxes. She made me help her re size them last night...For some reason, I didn't ask what she needed them for...Maybe it was something in the hot chocolate that she so nicely offered to make me just before she asked. You will be amazed at the number of useful things that Sherree has on that site. I once made miniature chocolate chip cookies and she had the packages for all of the ingredients. That's also where the gang gets all of the beer and sodas, by the case for their parties. Lots of neat stuff!
Tessie didn't change a lot about the main floor. She did put a new wicker chair in the corner. Other than that, she let Cordelia keep all of the stuff in the other house....

However, in reviewing the contract, I see a clause that states that Tessie has the right to retrieve any furniture, as long as she replaces it with something of similar shape and value....I wonder if Cordelia has some hot chocolate to sip whilst signing...?

I must say that Tessie has better taste than Cordelia did. The second floor is much nicer now.

I finally went looking for Cordelia...

I found her sitting in the bedroom of the town house, staring at the far wall. I don't think that she knows what hit her yet....

Tessie, when Cordey wakes up, you are going to be in sooooo much trouble!

I am going to go somewhere and hide now. I think that Cordelia is almost fully conscious...

So much for a nice quiet Saturday!

Don't forget to vote! Thanks!

See you tomorrow.

Could Tessie Be Right???

Say it isn't so.....I was getting very frustrated this morning. I couldn't get on the net at all. I couldn't even read my e mail. Don't you feel cut off from the world when that happens?

I looked around for something to do. I was kind of in the mood for cleaning. I was forced to clean out my tool bag yesterday. Mookie managed to knock that plus the basket that I had spare parts in, to the floor of the family room.....It wouldn't have been too bad, but it was 2 AM the night before! You don't want to hear a loud crash that time of night! I dumped everything out the morning after and put everything right. As I said, I was kind of in the mood. I looked in the workroom. It's getting kind of icky.....Not full fledged icky, so I opted out on that one.

I went back into the family room and couldn't even count how many rooms there were in the Clockwork cottage because of all of the "extras" that were piled in and around the house on it's table. That seemed like a more manageable job than the workroom. So I tackled it.

When I finished Zar seemed to think that it was cause for celebration. He is now ensconced in his workroom with food and drink working on his Steampunk Cycle. I didn't even ask what was wrong or how he got it up there. It couldn't be with Tessie's help. He is still trying to keep her from remembering that the room is even there.

I was on a roll. Next I went to work on the Mystery House. If Miss Dovestone in going to live there, there will have to be some adjustments. She is of an earlier time period than the intended tenants. I will have to use the wood stove after all and I put in the hutch. she has no ice box. She may have to go out for her meals for a while. I am also going to have to provide her with a different armoire in the bedroom. The one that is in there now is too modern. Pay no attention to the repairs going on close to the ceiling in the bedroom. I promise to finish them soon.


Now about Tessie being right.....When I finished cleaning up the other two houses, I figured that I might as well give Tessie a hand with her cottage. I heard her earlier rummaging around in there and thought that she may have taken a hint from my cleaning spree.


I quickly discovered what all of the noise had been. She has been zapping things around and rearranging everything so that she can get the chase lounge in the corner of the kitchen. Then she had to have Spike's new bed in there too. Never mind that she now has to leap over it to get to the stove.


She wouldn't give up the wicker chair and footstool. The is now upstairs. I did persuade her to part with the glass trunk and exchange it for the new one rather than cramming them both into the bedroom. She had to move the candelabra to the main floor. If she lights all of the candles on that as well as the ones on the chandelier it is going to look like high noon in there and we will be calling the fire department.


I am not giving up yet........but she may just be right about needing a larger place to live.....Maybe.


See you tomorrow.

All's Well That Ends..........

Well.....I finally gave in and took Balthazar shopping for another dog. He says that Tessie has spoiled Spike rotten and he is no longer"A Man's Dog!". Beside that statement, he told me that he wanted a bigger dog to protect the house from unwanted intruders. Come on Zar, do you think that a dog will stop Tessie? She will be feeding him T bone steaks in a couple of days.

Tessie sent Buster back to the Mystery House where he belongs and Cordelia was happy to have him for company. She complains a lot about being lonely.......Again I say"Yeah, sure she is!"

Anyway, all of them seem to be very happy at the moment. I don't think that Tessie is ever going to let go of Spike. Buster looks up to Cordelia. And Balthazar now is the proud owner of a Doberman that he is calling "Beauregard", "Beau" for short.

It looks like such a happy family. It's a pity that it won't last past Monday morning.

I'm not quite showing you the day in the order that it has happened so far. Before I left this morning, I decided to get started on the slate floor for the kitchen of the Clockwork Cottage. I measured the room and cut out a piece of illustration board. Then I went to paint it.

This is how you get ready to paint......First you squeeze the paint out on a paper plate. Shoo Mookie away. Get a small glass of water for the wash. Turn your back to find the brush that you need. Turn back and quickly grab the camera. For once I didn't miss the shot. Then you shoo the cat away and paint. He walks across the floor that I am painting. Shoo the cat away again. Turn the floor over to paint the back side with water so that it won't warp. Grab the tap dancing cat from the wet illustration board and drop him back on the floor where he belongs. I weighted the floor with wax paper and a book and left. I would show you the floor, but it isn't all that interesting. I just smeared paint all over it so that when I put the leather paper(slate) on it there will be grout between the pieces.

Now, about what I managed to find besides Beau. The first stop I made was at Ace Hardware hobby section where I got some railroad greenery and some small scale stone block paper. Then I stopped at Michael's. All I could find for my 40% off coupon was a roll of white floral tape. Then I went to the mini shop for the dog. Last of all, I am now the proud owner of a Better Homes and Gardens from 1959 and a Mc Calls magazine from 1969. I paid a dollar a piece at the Assistance League Thrift Store.

I am now going to go take a few hours off and read my NEW magazines. I love the old recipes that I find in this kind of magazine. I peeked inside of them before I bought them. Yes, that's Twiggy on the cover! They make me want to do a "Mid-century Modern" something. I'm not sure what.

See you tomorrow.

While the Owner's Away.....

Tessie will play......The other day when she went around showing off Mini George, no one answered the door at the Mystery House. She questioned me at length about the person or persons that lived there. I lied.......Through my teeth.......I told her that it was a very nice single lady that owns an antique store. I also said that the lady was on vacation. Then I had to explain about vacations. She had never heard of such a thing. Having never had a job, she never had need of one. I didn't tell here that no one actually lived there. I knew that she would want to take possession of the place.

This morning I went to work on framing the windows on the cottage. Tessie was nowhere to be seen. I worked for a while and when she didn't come back I started looking for her. It wasn't hard to figure out. Mini George was also gone. Hmmmmmm.......She must have gone to see if the nice "antique lady", as she has dubbed the owner of the Mystery House, was back yet.

I looked in the back and there she was. Mini George was sitting in the corner and she had taken over the window seat, afghan and all! She pretended not to notice me. She was totally engrossed in The Witch's Handbook. Sure she was. It was upside down.....I took that as a sign that she wanted to be left alone. What harm could it do? It would satisfy her curiosity about the place and I thought that she would soon tire of the game. I went back to work.

A little later I tried again. This time she grabbed me and wanted some answers. She was digging through the wardrobe in the bedroom. "Why does this lady have shoes with pointy heels and toes? Why does she have white kid gloves and lots of purses?"And the best question of all....."What kind of underwear is that? It would be drafty when flying on a broom! It is immodest!!! What kind of lady would go around without her drawers?" She definitely lives in a different world.

Her last question as I was leaving to go back to work was "When are you going to make me some of those?" I tap danced around the subject and finally convinced her that they were not at all practical for a working witch. She was pacified by the fact that I was finally working on her cottage again. Back to work.

I have the windows framed. No glass is in place yet though. I will have to stop and go to the mini witch meeting pretty soon.

One more check on Tessie before I get ready to go.......

She found the sewing loft. The last time I peeked in she was peddling that treadle for all she was worth. She is trying to make her own version of the bikini panties and bra! This should be interesting. I guarantee that she won't be flitting around on her broom, her motorcycle or the dragon in those! That's if she even gets them made. I didn't even know that she could sew.

I will keep you posted with any progress that she makes, if she does indeed make any.

See you tomorrow.

Tassels 101

This morning I got a comment from Katie asking for the instructions for tassels. OK. But first I have to show you what I have been working on.

I walked by the Mystery House this morning and I heard a tiny voice whispering "Fill me." It was the armoire in the bedroom. I thought it was about time that I did at least a minimum of work on the Mystery House. So I filled it.

I lined the doors with Penelope canvas and trimmed them with a mini braid. Then I went to work filling the inside. I cheated and went through stuff that I had on hand. I really didn't have to make anything.

If you look closely at the bottom shelf, you will see that there is a wallet to match the cream colored purse. Look closer.....Yes there is money in it. The wallet fits in the purse and the purse closes. To the left there are some undies made of lace. I just cut the scalloped edge of some lace that happened to be the right size, put a tuck in the bottom with glue and ran the thinnest ribbon around the bottom and attached straps. The panties are just cut in that shape and glued on the sides. The floral trim is bunka. Incidently, you can cut most lace anywhere you want and it won't ravel.

On the top shelf there is a barrel purse like the one in the tutorial. The other one doesn't close. It is permanently open with the gloves and scarf hanging out. The platforms have real cork soles.

Now on to the tassels. They are really easy to make.

I did the tutorial with contrasting thread so that you can see how to put them together. When you do them you will want to match the threads. After you get them together you can put a ribbon or other trim around the neck to trim.

You will need embroidery floss in the color of your choice. You can use some of the same floss to tie the knots.

1. Cut two lengths of 6 strand floss about 2" long so that you will have something to hold onto. After you get good at it you can cut it shorter, but longer is easier for the first few.

2. Cut a strand about 6"long for the slip knots. You will need 2 of these, each tied with a single strand.(pink) The slip knot is the same one that you use to start crochet. One tail will be stationary and the other will pull up and tighten the knot.

3. Put one of the slip knots around the middle of the two bunches of red thread. Tighten it.

4. Pull down on the red thread so that all of the tails are together.

5. Slip the other knot over the strings of the first knot and pull it down until it is about 1/8"to 1/16" over the bend in red thread. This will make the "neck" of the tassel.

6. Put a small dot of white glue or clear nail polish on each of the knots. Let them dry. pull the threads of the neck slip knot down.

7. Trim the bottom end of the tassel evenly. It can be any length you want it to be. Just remember that you can always trim more, but you can't put any back!

Now go make tassels and hang them on everything that you can find that needs one. You can put them on a door handle, a drawer handle, a key, a pair of scissors, or the end of a "rope" tieback on your drapes. I'm sure that you will find more places to put them. Have fun!

See you tomorrow.

All Sewn Up

Yesterday the sewing room looked kind of bare. I fixed that. The lady of the house made a shirt. She used one of the Simplicity patterns that she got at Hancock's yesterday.


The shirt was made all by gluing. No sewing. I know that some of you are opposed to needles and thread. Sometimes that is a good thing. Basically, I just downsized the pieces of a real shirt pattern and left the seam allowances off. I edged all of the pieces with white glue and re trimmed so that they wouldn't fray. I noticed with the photo, that I need to trim just a couple more spots on the edges. It helps if you sew in regular size to use this method. You need to know the shape of pieces and how they go together. BTW, the buttons were simply punched out of colored card stock with the smallest round punch that I have.

The hanger was made from a white plastic coated paper clip. I just took a pair of needle nose pliers and bent it in the shape I wanted.

Next I decided that I needed to camouflage the bottom of the short dress form. Easy. I simply stood the sack in front and then thought that the seamstress would appreciate a cookie break. I made the tuffet that the cookies are sitting on from a design I came up with a couple of years ago.

Behind the dress form you can see an embroiderer's table that a friend made. The pegs on top are to loop hanks of thread over to keep the colors straight.

On the quilt stand, there is a yellow pulled work tablecloth that
I made. It is done exactly like the big ones are done. The only difference is I had to use a lighted magnifier to see where to put the needle between the threads in the batiste.

The quilt on the back of the stand is a cheater quilt. That is, it was printed on a piece of material from a quilt store. I got it at least 10 years ago. The fabric was printed with photographs of real quilts. It was perfect for miniature work. I bought a few yards and use it quite a bit in different scenes.


Here you can see the whole scene. I added some exposed beams at the edge of the alcove and in the corners.

With the exception of something to hang on the wall behind the chair, I think I am done with this part of the mystery house.

Now I have to go clean up the real house. Ick!!! I am having the Wednesday Witches here tomorrow. See you then.

One Step Back......

OK....... I am not working on the bookshop. I took a step back instead. I went back to the Mystery House for the day. I have made two steps forward. I decided to work on the sewing loft.

I made a Chrysenbon Sewing machine and chair this morning. I think that this is about the fourth one of these machines I have made. Those and the wood stove are two of my all time favorite kits.

I rummaged around looking for sewing stuff I knew I had........Time wasted. I remembered that I put most all of the sewing stuff in the Rusty Needle Quilt Shop. Rats! That means I have to start from scratch for accessories for the sewing loft. I got as far as making a bag with fabric and patterns. These are some old time printies from B.C.(before computers). I save everything. The bag is a Hancock Fabrics bag and the patterns are Simplicity. I am sure I could find some on the net, but I wanted to use some of the old stuff for sentimental reasons. After all, I have held on to them for 20 years or so. Why not use them?

After I finished those, I went on to make one of the dress forms. Oops! This loft is really short. I ended up cutting off the base. I guess that means that the lady that lives here is really short too.

I dug around and found a rug in my stash of made, but homeless, rugs that looks pretty good. Then I stole a basket with white geraniums from the basket shop. I was on a roll! While I was at it, I took a sewing basket too. Sometimes I am glad that I just sit down and make random rugs and baskets when I am bored.

Anyway, I feel like I made some progress today. Did I mention that while I was rummaging for sewing stuff I did some digging out in my workroom too? I am so proud. I can actually walk from the door to the desk on the opposite wall without a leash to pull me back to the door!

Now, I think that while I am going strong, I should keep it up. Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

From One Pattern

Probably ten years ago I went to Arizona State Day with a group of friends. The project that year was an Armoire in a shadow box. It's the blue one that I have shown several times on the blog. The kit included all of the wood and the shadow box. We could do anything we wanted inside. The pattern was simple and I have made it a couple of times since.

The next time I made it, I used commercial cabriole legs and turned it into more of a highboy bookcase. I carved the legs to a slimmer silhouette and used only horizontal shelves. It is in a garden room corner box.

Today I decided it would be a good starting point again. Since I didn't have the wood to finish the kitchen armoire for the Mystery House, I started an armoire for the bedroom.

Here's what I have so far.

The trim that you see around the top, middle, bottom and drawers is a handy dandy little thing called guitar inlay. It does a pretty good job of fancying up mini furniture. Some people use wider strips of this to make inlaid floor borders.

This pattern is a "cheater" pattern. The drawers don't open. I could make it so that they would but what's the point? They will never be opened.

The bottom is actually an open box.

As you can see from the photo, I just stuck the legs inside. My feeling is, this is a kit house and is never going to a museum. It is for fun. So I cut corners here and there.

I still have to make the doors. I am thinking that I will do them as frames with the infamous Penelope Canvas as an inset. This could still change. I have the frames made, but Penelope is still just lying there.

I can't decide if I like it or not. I am going to have to look in my stash. This piece is kind of yellow. I think I have some that is more cream/pink toned. The guitar inlay is more pinkish. It doesn't show yet because there is no finish on the piece yet.

So far I think it goes pretty well with the bed.

I will keep you posted as I go. See you tomorrow.

Bits and Bobs

Today I am fighting either the start of a cold or really lousy allergies. I'm not sure which yet. So I am wandering about doing a little of this and a little of that to keep my mind off of it.

First I put together the outside of the armoire. The shelves that you see inside are not in place they are just reinforcing the sides while it drys in the jig. I can't remember the name of this jig. I got it many years ago and I couldn't do furniture without it. I think that they are still available from Micro Mark. I haven't had one of their catalogs for years, so I can't look up the name for you.

It is a metal tray about 10" square and it comes with eight of those little metal covered magnets that you see. They hold the glued pieces of whatever you are building square until the glue dries.

While it was drying I started planning the extra trim for the doors. I also drew up the designs for the painted part. After it was dry I drew the scene in the center that goes behind the sink.

Then my attention span leaped over to the cover up rug. Buster can now sit on the rug and keep his bottom warm instead of having to sit on the cold floor over the hole with the draft. He is quite relieved.

Notice that the circular staircase is down again. I found the newel post that was on it originally. I am going to take it apart and replace the one that is just a spindle that is on there now.

That's what I get for cleaning the workroom. It just makes more work. Maybe I will start calling it the playroom. Then maybe it will make more play when I clean it.......Oh well, it was just a thought.

Back to the subject at hand. A couple of people asked how I finish off the rugs. So here goes. I don't like to fold them under because they look too thick to me. So I just turn them over and smear the back edges with white glue. Did you know that they used to use rabbit skin glue to do this on real pieces of needlepoint? Icky! Poor rabbits!! I know. Stick to the subject.

After the glue dries I trim it as close as possible to the last row of stitches, being careful not to snip the threads. Then I take a Sharpie or other permanent pen that closely matches the last line of stitching and color the canvas edge.

After this, if I want a fringe on the end of the carpet I take a piece of muslin that has been trimmed with a straight edge following the lines of thread and fringe one edge and glue it to the back of the rug. That's all there is to it. Simple.

I'm sorry this is short today. I need to go see what I can find to kick the cold/allergy. See you tomorrow.

Did I Mention the Loft?

I didn't think I did. There will be a loft over the bed in the bedroom. It will be a sewing room. I just found the pieces. Mookie didn't eat all of them after all.

There was supposed to be an attic in this house. I decided to keep it more open. I cut the floor down so that there is only a bit of it over the bathtub area. I think that will be a space to put plants.

The other piece is the end over the bed. There will be a sewing studio there. It is very small. There's just enough room for a Chrysenbon treadle machine and mannequin. I haven't decided how the owner gets up there yet. She may just have to fly. Rope ladder?

I still need to work on the tub area. It needs curtains or a screen for modesty's sake.

Right now the loft is just dry fit into place but I am thinking that I will make it permanent tomorrow.

I made the trunk at the end of the bed from a pattern in one of Helen Ruthburg's books. I covered it with needlepoint canvas and used real leather to do the straps. I still need to put the buckles and other hardware on it.

I am thinking that there will have to be an armoire in the bedroom.....No closet.

I am almost done with the remake of the rug for behind the couch. Yes. I measured it this time. It is going to cover both holes. It should be finished tonight. The poor dog will be able to move about the place and not have to sit in one place to cover the hole any more.

I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have the plans all drawn up for the Mac Kenzie-Childs kitchen armoire. I also have it measured onto the wood. Tomorrow I will finish cutting it out and put it together. It may take several days to finish. I am not going to follow the color scheme in the original.

Luckily, Mac Kinzie-Childs gives the measurments for the armoire in their catalog, so I can reproduce it pretty much to scale.

It has a microwave in the top and a fridge in the bottom. I want one of these in real life. They are only about 15,000 dollars.......I know. Dream on.

OK. I am off to dream. Maybe tomorrow I will drag you around with me while I build the armoire.

See you then.

Tabled for Today

I'm back in action! I just replaced the table in the dining alcove of the Mystery House with one that matches the decor.

I went into my stash of crochet thread and found a cardboard core. It was 2 1/2" tall. Most standard real tables are about 2 1/2' tall so it is perfect. ( I buy crochet thread in big bags at thrift shops for a dollar or two. Some of the thread is usable for wicker some isn't. Even the stuff that won't work for anything is still useful. The cores are all usable for various sized and scaled tables in mini.) If the core is taller you can measure and cut it down to 2 1/2". I cut the thread off of the core. It was the non usable kind. Then I traced around the end and cut a piece out of plain old cardboard.

Next I measured the diameter and added twice the height to that. I then cut a circle from the base material with that diameter so that it would fit over the top and just hang to the floor. Use fraycheck on the edge. If it is a tiny bit big you can always trim it after you glue it to the table. You can always take a bit off, but you can't add any!

I laid the fabric face down on the table and put just a touch of glue on the top of the core. I put that in the center of the fabric and brought the edges up so that they touched the bottom of the table evenly all the way around. Once I had it centered I put a thin line of glue up four sides of the core evenly spaced. I made sure that these corresponded with the straight of grain in the fabric. I pulled the four sides up and stuck them to the lines of glue.

Next I found the center of each of the spaces in between the four glue lines and did the same thing again. This time each glue line corresponded with the bias of the fabric. I used hair clips to hold. They work better than clothespins because they don't get in the way when you add more. As an alternative you can use straight pins to hold. I let the eight lines dry a bit. Then I do the same thing a third time,gluing in between each one of the eight lines. When I finish I have 16 pleats around. It is helpful to have a glue syringe or a long nosed bottle to do the third set of lines.

Did you know that if you put a soft cloth on a real round table they will always fall naturally into 16 pleats? They do. I think it has something to do with how the fabric is woven.

You then cut a piece of contrasting fabric for the topper. It can be either round or square. Fraycheck it. Just be sure when you glue it down that the straight of grain on the fabric is the same as the under skirt. It will hang better.

Let the whole mess dry thoroughly then take off the clips and pins. Then trim the edges if needed.

When you are happy with the shape, trim if you want. You will see that I trimmed the edges of the topper with lace. I find it easier to trim after it is on the table. I can make it more even that way and there is less chance of messing up the lace.

Here's the finished table where it belongs. BTW, did I mention that this little Victorian is in San Francisco? It's a foggy morning. The hot breakfast and coffee will be welcome.

I think I will go eat now. See you tomorrow.