All Ruffled Up!

Hailey's little Ikea table needed some serious dressing up. Her room is "shabby chic" meets "vintage barbie". I got her an unfinished wood table and chairs from Ikea when I first did her room and painted it a light pink color. This was back in the dark ages when I was afraid of bright fun colors and hadn't figured out how much easier it is to paint with spray paint! The table seriously took a week (9 months pregnant w/Belle) to paint and it still didn't look all that great. By that time I was totally over it and just shoved it in her room and put some stuff on top of it.

I thought it was time to redo it! I didn't actually repaint the table I just scrubbed it down with a magic eraser and repainted the chairs. Then made the table a little ruffled up table cloth that can be removed and washed or bleached if need be.

Materials:
1 queen size flat sheet or around 4 yards of fabric
matching thread

I had a sheet on hand from a random sheets set I purchased at Home Goods when it had been marked down to like $5!

First start by measuring your table. I have the Svala from Ikea. If you have something different be sure to check your measurements. Mine measured 23 1/4 by 19 5/8. I added an inch to each dimension (for the seam allowances) so I cut a rectangle 24 1/4 and 20 5/8. I wanted 4 tiers but later in the project decided to only use 3 tiers so that the girls would be able to push their chairs in completely.

So I cut 6, 5" strips by however long my sheet was and luckily it turned out to be just enough. Then I cut 3, 4 1/2" by 88" (2x length + 2x width) strips for the dividers.

Take your 5" strips and ruffle them up. I left my edges un hemmed if you want to hem your edges do it now before your ruffle them up. I thought the un hemmed edges after being washed would look cute and shabby! I didn't actually join the pieces strips together with a seam I just butted them right up to each other as I ran them through the ruffler. I did all the ruffling at once so I wouldn't have to change my foot each tier. Sometimes I like to pretend I work on an assembly line and try to do things efficiently. Totally the planner in me! :)

Lay out your rectangle that you cut earlier flat on a table or the floor, pin the ruffles down and baste them on (just use the longest stitch length we'll go over it again).

After you have that tacked down put your 4 1/2" strip on top of it and make a little ruffle sandwich (just like the skirt) and stitch that down using your normal stitch length.

Fold down the 4 1/2" divider strip and pin another layer of ruffles on it right sides together. Then stitch it down. Lay another divider strip down and stitch that down. Finally repeat for another tier. And another if you want 4.

Turn everything out and iron the ruffles flat. They just look prettier when they are all pressed. And put it on your table!

Then take it out and have a tea party (more to come on that later)!

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