Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Day 766: No-Sew Skirted Table


After we made the skirted tables for my sister's wedding, I knew that we needed one to use as a desk for the office. It took a little convincing to get Wes on board -- I think he was hung up on the word "skirt," which clearly wasn't fit for his man room/office. I eventually wore him down by e-mailing him inspirational photos every other day and threatening to never make him pancakes again.


Not only did he change his mind, but he upped the anty and really improved on the original project by building a super-sturdy desk that fits our needs perfectly (and it looks pretty darn good, too). He's so handy.


You'll have to ask him if you want to know more about the measurements, but the desk is basically two boxes made by 2-by-4s and 2-by-3s and connected in the middle, with a piece of 3-quarter-inch plywood on top. He researched ready-made desk sizes to come up with the measurements for height and depth.


And he used the sizes of the two plastic drawers we bought to decide on the width. He was worried about storage, but with these babies (which we picked up at Target, for under $30 for both), we have more storage than in the old desk.


The rest of the project was basically free since we used lumber left over from other projects, and the cotton-duck fabric from the previously-mentioned wedding tables. We did have the plywood cut to size at Lowe's. Since the desk is so much shorter, it wasn't a problem that I had cut my yardage into pieces. By the way, I used about five yards of a very wide fabric (the bolt was probably more than 54 inches) to make this skirt.

I didn't take any photos of the beginning of skirting the desk, so refer back to the post on the tables for that. Basically, I stapled the top of the fabric around the edge of the plywood, creating a crease in the middle where two pieces of fabric meet.


If I had a sewing machine/knew how to sew, I would have hemmed the bottom first. Instead, I'll use my fabric glue to hem the bottom, using the floor to help me keep a straight line.


To make a pleat at the sides, I wrapped the fabric around and stapled at the corner, and then again about two inches from the corner.


Then, I folded the fabric back and brought the folded edge to the corner and stapled it down. I made sure that my fold wasn't too deep that the rest of the fabric wouldn't make it to the end of the side.

When stapling the skirt to the top, it's not necessary to staple to the very edge of the desk, or to staple super close together. I put about one staple every two-to-three inches.


To cover the top, I hung the fabric face-down on the front of the desk, and stapled as close to the edge as possible, as often as possible.


Then I folded the fabric back toward the back of the desk and secured along the back with a couple of staples.


To make the sides neat, I trimmed the fabric so there was about three-quarters of an inch on each side, then folded it under and secured it with fabric glue.


And there you have it! All that's left is the finish the bottom (which could be interesting) and have a piece of glass cut for the top to make a better work surface, and to protect the fabric. I'm thinking about putting a trim tape along the bottom of the skirt -- maybe Greek key?


Next, I think I'd like to try a round or hexagon-shaped table for our breakfast room. This table (in a foyer designed by Tom Sheerer, spotted yesterday on La Dolce Vita) is my inspiration.

27 comments:

paula said...

Jennifer it looks incredible!

Megan said...

That Looks amazing! I need one of those for sewing!

Elizabeth said...

That looks great! I'm bookmarking that.

Anonymous said...

What a great idea and perfect way to hide imperfect storage! :) Love the chair (and imperial trellis fabric) and pillow!

Eleanor said...

Hey! I love your new desk and also the trellis fabric on your desk chair! Can you tell me the name / designer!?! And also where you got it...I live in Birmingham also!

Thanks so much!
Eleanor

Katie said...

Love it. You guys are so crafty...seriously...do you wanna come over and make me a draped table?

Sarah said...

Looks AWESOME. So functional and stylish.

bluehydrangea said...

The desk looks great and it's even better because you made it!! Trim on the bottom wold be fabulous!

High-Heeled Foot in the door said...

Love this. It looks great. Thanks for the steps!

I love that it's no sew since my machine broke on me just when I was starting to learn!

bryn alexandra said...

Thank you so much for showing this! I think I am going to do something similar very soon! Thanks again :D

Jennifer said...

thanks, everyone!

Eleanor -- the fabric on the chair is Imperial Trellis by Kelly Wearstler. Mine is a remnant that was left over from a project at work -- just enough for the chair seat!

Anonymous said...

you can also use something called "stich withchery" instead of fabric glue. i don't know how to sew either, but i covered a table very similar to this for the end of our hall and the stich witchery worked great...

Unknown said...

Wow! It looks fantastic!

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

What a fabulous desk. Very chic for little cash.

megan @ a life's design said...

Love the 'how-to'! Thanks for sharing! Great job!

down pillow said...

If you stapled the sides but put velcro on the front it might be easier to get into those drawers. Possibly just a thin piece of velcro across the top. Just a suggestion!

Sew Pink said...

I have been reading your blog for some time now and just had to comment on this skirted desk. I have been dying to make a skirted buffet for my dining room. I do sew, but love the projects where all I need is my pneumatic stapler. I think this will be my next project. Thanks for sharing, you're looks great. I love the idea of putting a trim at the bottom.

Jenny at LGN said...

Looks great, Jennifer!! I'm so glad you posted directions - I wasn't even watching when my mom made my skirted table a few weeks ago.

Would you mind if I send people your way who are looking for a tutorial?

Again, great job, as always!!!

Tricia - Avolli said...

Great idea and it looks fabulous while being fabulously functional!

Tricia - Avolli

Sarah (Matters of Style) said...

Looks great! I am totally going to copy you and do this for my sewing table so I can hide fabric and such underneath. Great idea!

erika said...

looks amazing! i just posted Jenny's skirted table yesterday and hadn't seen yours yet! bravo!
have you found a greek key trim...? my favorite is this: http://www.lsfabrics.com/fabric_catalog.php?cPath=&current_category_id=&csid=&stext=athena&ct=

Design Esquire said...

Wow!! You did a great job. I may try to steal this idea.

Filia Artis said...

Yay for no sew! I was all discouraged at first thinking this would be great in my laundry room, but how could I ever do something like this since my sewing stinks...then I saw that I COULD use this idea after all!

Thanks for such a great tutorial post!

Haven and Home said...

Genius!!!! Looks great, I am definitely going to try this!

Sarah said...

wI ant to make a skirted table now!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the instructions - since I'm not a sewer this is right up my alley. I'm going to try this ASAP!

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