Sustainable Sewing – Tablecloth to Circle Skirt Tutorial

Learn how to use vintage lace in a sustainable sewing project!

Hey y’all, today I’m channeling grandma’s house in my outfit with this tablecloth I turned into a skirt.

Every time I go antique shopping, I see lace tablecloths. And I love lace, but lace tablecloths in interior design aren’t really my thing (nor would I want to have to wash them!). So I generally pass them by.

But this one I spotted at a warehouse sale and I couldn’t resist. For one thing, no stains, which often are par for the course in lace tablecloths. For another, it was soft lace that appeared to be mostly cotton (I haven’t burn tested it to be sure, but it definitely feels more cotton than polyester).

And it had a pretty floral design and that cute edging that almost looks like button loops. For $15, I couldn’t resist, could you?

I knew when I bought it I wanted to turn it into a skirt or dress, but it wasn’t until I started thinking about this month’s theme of Rejuvenation that I decided to go with the simplest option and turn it into a circle skirt.

Honestly, once the decision was made, the execution was super simple and took me less than an hour. First, the tablecloth had a natural circle to cut out in the middle. I measured around the circle and determined it was just the same as my hip measurement – another stroke of luck! So I decided to make an elastic waist circle skirt. For a circle skirt with a zipper and waistband, check this post.

So I carefully cut out (and saved) the center design. Not sure what I’ll use that piece on, but it’s a pretty bit of lace so I know I’ll find something to do with it.

Next I checked my elastic stash. I wanted something more than a plain elastic waistband so I found this one I had bought that has silver sparkle on one side. You can get the same elastic here (affiliate link).

I cute off a bit that was 1 inch shorter than my waist measurement and then overlapped the short ends and zig-zag stitched over them to form the waistband.

Then I marked quarter points on the waistband and on the skirt opening and I placed the waistband inside the skirt, WRONG sides together. I lined up the quarter points and matched the lace to the top edge of the elastic.

Then I sewed the lace to the waistband with a zig-zag stitch, stretching the waistband slightly so that it lay flat against the fabric. I then flipped the waistband up so that the right side was facing out, and zig-zag stitched again along what was now the lower edge of the waistband to secure it against the skirt and hide the raw edge of the lace under the edge of the elastic. Check the video below for more details on this step. 

And then find yourself a field to twirl in at sunset, ha! What you don’t see in these pretty pics is the road I’m facing all the cars wondering what the heck me, the kids and the coach were doing out there.