Tables, I Got Ya' Covered

The tops on my beloved Ballard Designs Cafe Tables have become discolored by water and heat. BOO! They are supposedly powder coated and I am not sure I want to "fix" them with rattle-can spray paint.  But I am sure I want them looking nicer right now.

I went off to the fabric store in search of some basic cotton prints that would coordinate with the outdoor fabric that I made for the chair backs last month.  This stripe is about as close as I could get and I am pretty pleased with how they go together, even if not quite just right.

The last covers I made were oilcloth with hook and loop closures. That really didn't work out very well. One reason I decided to go with cotton was so I could make these like fitted sheets. The other reason was so I could just throw them in the washer.

Hopefully you can see the very faint blue mark.

I turned a table upside down on the back side of the pre-washed fabric in order to mark the corners. I cut the fabric with about 2.5" extra on each side. That was the most I could get with 44" wide, pre-shrunk fabric, but it worked since the tables are steel with a rolled edge less than 1" deep.

Then, I sewed the corners to make box shape, then cut it off to make about a 1/2" seam allowance & sewed down the seam allowances so pulling the elastic through would be easier.

Next, I pressed a hem/elastic casing to easily fit 3/8" elastic. I originally wanted to use 1/4" elastic, but the fabric store was out of 1/4" elastic by-the-yard. I didn't feel like I had enough material to do a nice, finished hem, so I just zigzagged over the cut edges.

Then I ran the elastic through the casing, pinned it to itself at about where it came out and tried it on the table. It was just the right amount of gather to easily fit over the table as well as hold the cover snugly on the table. And at last, sewed the elastic into a loop and closed the casing.


All ready for dinner! We eat on the deck just about every night when the weather and the smoke allow it, after all.

We enjoy a cocktail out there of an evening, too.

I think mojitos might be the best looking drink for the new table covers.

UPDATE: I was able to finish fixing up the last two patio chairs! I had to find a coordinating outdoor material to do the backs of the slipcovers, but the fronts, tabs, and buttons are the same as the others.