How to Use Banquet Table Skirts

Banquet table skirts allow you to transform tables that do not match in shape, size or style into a coherent whole. They hide worn, torn, rusty or broken bases and dented table legs from view. Once the party is over, many banquet table skirts are thrown in the trash or wadded into a box with a "lick and promise" wipe-down. Instead, they can become a set of cafe curtains, a substitute for an under-sink cabinet or a tiered room divider. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

Cafe Curtains

1




The uprights at the outer right and outer left of the frame are the stiles.

Measure your window beginning at the midpoint of the right stile and ending at the midpoint of the left stile, which is the upright portion of the window frame.

2

Cut your table skirt into two pieces with a length of half your window width plus one. Trim the right and left sides of both table skirt pieces with a straightedge and a sharpened pair of sewing shears.

3

Cut 4-inch wide muslin to your window measurement from step 1. Fold the muslin in half lengthwise. Machine-stitch along the open edge of the muslin, leaving a 1/2-inch seam allowance.

4

Bend the last 1/2-inch of the end of a yard-long piece of 1/4-inch steel rod stock into a hook, using vise grips or other pliers of your choice.

5

Push the rod through the muslin tube you made in previous steps. Hook the outside edge of the tube, and begin pulling the muslin tube inside itself. Once the entire tube has been pulled inside out, you have made a casing for your curtains.

6

Cut the casing into two equal-length pieces. Pin a casing along the top edge of each table skirt piece, even with the point where the shirred top edge ends and the folds of the table skirt begin. Stitch the casing to the table skirt.

7

Push your curtain rod into the casing from the left side to the right. Hang rods using manufacturer-supplied hardware. If you have archer or other long window styles, cut the skirt folds from a second table skirt, leaving you with just the shirred top to use as a valance. Repeat all steps to make a casing for your valance.

Under-Sink Faux Cabinet

8




The area underneath this vanity would look better skirted.

Measure your sink from the right side where it meets your bathroom wall to the left side. Measure from the top edge of the side of the sink to the floor.

9

Cut your table skirt to the measurements from step 1.

10




You can cut plastic hook and loop tape into squares if you can't find circles.

Beginning where your sink meets your bathroom wall, glue a plastic hook and loop circle every two inches from the left side of your sink to the right, using 5-minute epoxy.

11

Glue a matching circle every two inches along the seam of your table skirt where the shirred top ends and the skirt folds begin.

12

Press each hook and loop circle on the sink to a corresponding circle on the skirt. By using hook and loop circles, the skirt is easy to remove for cleaning. Machine wash on the gentle cycle using warm water and a tsp. of dish liquid. Dry on a clothesline or lay flat on a table.

Tiered Room Dividers

13

Cut table skirts to the width of the shower curtain liners. It usually takes at least three tiers on each side to completely cover each liner.

14

Lay the curtain liner flat on the floor. Match the bottom edge of the first piece of table skirt with the bottom edge of the shower curtain liner. Use clothespins every two inches along the bottom to clamp it in place.

15

Apply instant adhesive across the width of the shower curtain liner, one-inch below the top edge of the first banquet table skirt tier. Use firm pressure to ensure that the adhesive holds.

16

Find the midpoint between the top edge of the table skirt tier you just finished gluing and the top edge of the shower curtain liner. Mark that point on the right and left sides of the liner. Draw a line between the two points.

17

Apply instant adhesive along that line, and glue the middle tier in place.

18

Apply instant adhesive along the top edge of the shower curtain liner. Use clamp-style clothespins every two inches to hold the final table skirt tier to the shower curtain's top edge until the adhesive dries.

19

Repeat steps 1 to 6 to cover the other side of the shower curtain with table skirt tiers.

20

Use a stud finder to decide where to place your wall anchors on each side of the room. Ron Hazelton recommends calibrating the stud finder. "First, you hold the sensor up to the wall...so it can measure how thick the wall is." You will see a light or hear a sound when the wall thickness changes.

21

Drill holes into the wall, and use a rubber mallet to tap the wall anchors into place. Screw an eye hook into each wall anchor.

22

Stretch picture wire from eye bolt to eye bolt and twist into place. Hang your table skirt tiered room divider from the wire using shower curtain hooks.