Anthropologie Inspired Americana

I am not typically a decorator for Independence day but I recently made an Anthropologie inspired tablecloth that fit the bill nicely. Anthropologie Inspired Americana.

Anthropologie Inspired Americana

It consisted of an old tablecloth I already had and a bag of fabric scraps.

The fabric scraps were leftover bits of bliss from the 1940s and 50’s that I had received from my grandmother and couldn’t bear to throw away.

The tablecloth was a pretty cotton damask that had been purchased years ago at a flea market. As a favorite, it had been used over and over and was really ready for the scrap bag or in desperate need of a makeover.

I took an old queen sized cotton top sheet and tore strips that were 3 1/2” wide. The length was way too long as you can clearly see.

Strips of colored fabric approximately 3” in length were cut. The widths varied between 1” and 1 1/2”. The fabric was then pinned onto the white cotton strip. Now I know you are all are thinking, “THIS WOMAN IS INSANE.” Yes, I am. But I am also a mom whose son has a 45-minute swim practice every day. His weekly swim meets average about 3 hours. That’s a lot of time to be sitting around thinking about the mother of the year award I will be receiving for supporting him while it’s 115 degrees in Phoenix. I had to humble myself somehow.

In Stitches

Onto the sewing machine. The colored strips were sewn onto the white strip with a wide zig-zag stitch. I then sewed a long basting stitch down the center of the fabric. Red thread was used for contrast. My machine does not have an automatic ruffler so it was then time to pull and gather, pull and gather until I wanted to throw the whole mess into the wastebasket.

The ruffled strips were pinned onto the tablecloth. It was actually easier to do this with the tablecloth on the table. I just kept switching seats as I pinned. I then sewed a basic stitch attaching the ruffled strip onto the tablecloth.

Creating A Centerpiece

After the sewn cloth was placed on the table I covered the worn center with a smaller fabric topper that had had a few stains on it. The stains were covered up by hand sewing on a few coordinating fabric yo~yo’s.

As I finished this tablecloth yesterday I began to think about to the upcoming 4th of July holiday. I recalled that there were a few leftover embellished straws from the 70’s Soiree. With a quick clip, they were transformed to look a bit like sparklers and into the floral arrangement they went.

Some red, white and bluetiful candy make for festive centerpiece.

Since we are celebrating our independence from England, I thought it was appropriate to break out the English red transferware. Each napkin was embellished with a few of the fabric broaches I made back in February.

This Sunday we’ll be having bbq chicken, macaroni salad, baked beans and corn on the cob. Who’s bringing the blueberry pie?

Be blessed,

Laura