Floorcloth

I recently found this on pinterest: it's a post about how to make a floorcloth from a tablecloth.  Since I've been needing something to go under Graham's high chair to keep the carpets from getting stained with, say, blueberry oatmeal, I thought I'd give it a try.  Here's what I learned:

Tablecloths are hard to find.  And if you find them, they're ugly.  Unless they come from Target, in which case they are pretty but don't match your decor.

If you can't find a table cloth, use home decor fabric for the weight.  Buy a yard and half so you have a 54"x54" square.  Fold in quarters.  Cut an arch around the exposed edges and voila!  You have a circle.  But  then you have to hem.  Don't want to sew?  Poly first, then fold edges under and hot glue.


Polycrylic works just as well as polyurethane.  So if you're buying your craft products during your weekly grocery shop and your kid has had enough of being at Meijer, rest assured that several sites recommended by Google assured me that polycrylic is just fine.  And from what I can tell, it will be.

But don't be cheap.  Buy the bigger jug.  The small (pint?) container will BARELY give you 3 thin coats.

Yes, sure, you can do this on the garage floor with no dropcloth...if your garage floor is spotless.  If, like me, you have dirt/oil stains your floor, the poly will soak through the fabric, adhere to dirt to the back of the fabric, and the bottom of your floor cloth with then look like this:


If you fold the fabric (even after it's sat flat over night) the creases stay and discolor slightly.  But not too badly.

Ultimately, the finished product is pretty much what I envisioned.  It fits exactly in the space I needed, and it brings a splash of warm color to my living space (and matches my computer table!)

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