DIY Project: Table Skirt - Part 1

A few weeks ago I showed you my "new office". My desk is a kitchen table and we use it for storage underneath. I'm not really a big fan of the way it looks, so I decided that I wanted to make a table skirt to go around the sides. I'm going to use velcro so that it can be taken off, if needed, to get/see underneath.

I got the idea from Craft-O-Maniac.

Source: craftomaniac.blogspot.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Because of my lack of housekeeping skills, I didn't own an ironing board (but had the iron), so I had to go out and purchase one. I had never purchased fabric before, so I had no idea where to go. This has been a project in the making for over a month now, and only did I even start this project last week.

I bought the fabric from Hobby Lobby. It was my first time ever in one and I was in heaven. What an amazing store. Here's the fabric I picked out:

I started out by measuring the sides of the table. I'm only doing 3 sides (not worrying about the one against the wall), but splitting the longest side (where my chair is) in half. After I had the measurements, I measured and marked the lengths on the fabric. (I bought 3 yards, which happened to be just enough.) I added 4 inches onto the length so that I could hem the sides as well.

Ignore the clips. I thought it was going to make it easier to find where I marked, but it really didn't make anything easier. I used a pencil to mark where to cut and did so on both ends so I could easily fold the fabric in half and know where to cut.

After measuring/marking everything all out, I folded the fabric in half at the cutting points and used clips to hold the fabric in place so I didn't lose my spot.

After clipping off my ends and middle, I ironed along the crease to make it easier to a semi-straight (as best as I could) line. This was definitely a brilliant idea.

I then cut each section down the crease and repeated until all 4 sections were cut out. That's where I stopped for now. This all took me almost an hour to do. I'm challenged when it comes to using an iron/sewing. lol

I plan on continuing the project this week, and will post more as I continue. Up next: ironing each piece (I tried this last week, but the wrinkles wouldn't disappear - perhaps adding water to the iron and steaming may help??), hemming the sides, adding velcro, and attaching to the table. This will all probably come in parts...not all at once. =]