I had a large scrap of decorator fabric that fit over my small oval table. I put it on the table upside down, centering it for maximum coverage and a few inches to hang on all sides. I made sure it was pressed enough to work with. (click on any photo to enlarge)
A piece of black sidewalk chalk was perfect for tracing the outline of the table top onto the wrong side of the fabric, which was basically white. Since the table has a wide vertical edge all around, I also pushed the fabric against that edge and traced a sketch of it as best I could, needing to occasionally adjust the fabric so that it still hung straight down.
The fabric was transferred to my long kitchen table, that was covered by my custom fit cutting mat. With limited fabric and unequal amounts available at certain edges, I used a flexible ruler
I could see it would be useful to have the markings not be brushed off, so I used an easy to see red thread to baste long stitches all around this outer line.
After cutting out the corner scallop section with the rotary cutter, I folded the fabric in half lengthwise. This let me match the lines of the red basting and decide how to apply my scallop design to the other corners. I was able to follow the first scallop cut fairly closely on all the other corners, depending on the allowances I had. If I had been starting with a piece of fabric cut for the purpose of fitting this table, I would have been able to plan for this. However, I decided that the piece of fabric was close enough, I had it on hand, and that no one would be looking at all sides of the table cloth at once anyway.
Once all the corners were shaped, I used the flexible ruler again to imitate those first scallops on the ends of the table cloth.
It was possible to get slight scallops on one long side of the table cloth.
Lastly, I trimmed the one long edge that would end up straight.
Centering a table cloth is frequently frustrating for me, so I brainstormed about how I might do it with this one. I traced the bottom of an oval casserole dish on the wrong side of a scrap of the table clothe fabric. I found a light weight cotton to use as lining and cut them both out together. I sewed them right sides together, leaving about 3 inches open on a long edge for turning later. I trimmed the seams to about 1/4 inch, cut the pointed tips off, and cut notches in the curves so that it would lay better when turned and pressed, which I did next. Then, I folded the table cloth again and marked the center of the table cloth with the black chalk, on the right side this time, as that is where I needed to see it and it would get covered with this centerpiece.
It was a good time to remove the red basting, but I just did it as I was making the narrow hem around the outer, scalloped edge of the table cloth. I was originally thinking it would be useful to use bias tape to hem it, but I didn’t have any and I wanted it done that day. I can go back and cover the edge with bias tape. I also plan to make a filet crochet trim to sew on the edge.
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