Liberty Lemonade Tablecloth Tutorial & Giveaway

Life gave me unexpected Liberty. So I made this reversible table cloth and called it Liberty Lemonade.

Actually 'life' didn't really give me the gorgeous 5" charms of Liberty Tana Lawn. In reality, they came from none other than Jo at  The Organic Stitch Co, via the lovely Nova, who invited me to participate in the monthly Liberty Scrap Challenge. Nova and other design bloggers have been busy creating all sorts of beautiful things using precious Liberty charms and scraps. You can check out the full list of amazing tutorials here. If you make any of the projects, please share photos in the flickr pool!

While I patiently awaited the arrival of what I thought would be one of Jo's incredible scrap bags, I came up with a few ideas for very small things that I could make with my Liberty fabric (tutorial coming later this month for Little Liberty Somethings). When an envelope arrived containing TWO charm packs, I was so surprised, but immediately inspired to make a light, summery tablecloth for our little kitchen table.

Our pretty napkins were sent to me by berlinquilter on flickr in the Table Top Swap!

I chose the floral, summery charms and paired them with Michael Miller's Old Script for a blendy look. I first tried using a solid ivory as the alternate block, but the effect was so flat. I think the swirly lines of hand-writing mirror the sketchy outlines of the Liberty floral prints so nicely; I really love the way they look together.

Our kitchen table is only 35" in diameter. The four of us eat meals together here, so I wanted a smallish table cloth that would not hang down too far and get caught on people's laps as they sat down. I thought it would be fun to piece the cloth on point and retain the pointy edges instead of trimming it round. My cloth finished up approximately 45" square (measured point to point across the horizontal). In this schematic I drew on our iPad using Touchdraw (look at me go, Lynne!), you can see and read how to do it.

click through to flickr so you can view in full size to read the text

You'll need 45 - 5" Liberty charms and 36 - 5" alternate charms, plus a 46" square of backing fabric.  The basic instructions are all there in the diagram, but I've made a flickr set as a basic photo tutorial showing some details of making the table cloth. It is a beginner sewing project and as long as you can maintain a consistent seam allowance, you can make this! I used a quilting seam allowance of 1/4", but the edge of a standard presser foot would work just fine, too. There is no batting, but the two layers of fabric are secured with a narrow zigzag topstitch along every seam. I used a light blue Aurifil 40wt thread for this.

Would you like to be a Liberty Scrap Challenge designer? Would you would like to play with my leftover Tana Lawn charms (mostly in grey/charcoal/blue colours)? The winner would have to design a project, make it using the Liberty fabric (other fabrics can be added) and then publish a tutorial on their blog. If you're up for this extra challengey-challenge, let me know in the comments and I'll include your name in a draw for the charms.  ALL OTHER comments will be up for a surprise Little Liberty Something that I'll send to one lucky person chosen by Mr. Random. I must have a way to contact you from your comment, either a linked blog or email address. Please leave only one comment.

Right then, I'm off to enjoy a little cup of tea over my sweet new table cloth. Thanks Jo and Nova!