Customising a tablecloth

Customising a tablecloth

A close up of a person holding a paintbrush painting.
Tablecloths don’t have to be plain — have a bit of fun learning how to decorate your own tablecloth and use it for any event from Christmas to your Big Lunch.

Decorating a tablecloth is a good activity for adults and children, so invite your friends and neighbours round for an artistic collaboration and create a one of a kind tablecloth to remember.

You will need:

  • One plain tablecloth or an old sheet
  • Selection of coloured fabric pens, scraps of fabric, sequins, glitter, paint…or whatever you can find!
  • Glue, stapler or a small sewing kit
  • Your imagination!

Once you have everything you need, just lay your table cloth out onto a sheet of newspaper or on an outdoor surface (if it’s not raining…) and get decorating!

Here are a few tablecloth design ideas to help you get inspired:

​Make it purposeful

Draw on place settings, name labels, jokes and icebreakers for your event.

Make it personal

Draw caricatures of yourselves — representing everyone on your street.

Make it practical
A printed table cloth with toys on top.

Design a map of where you live, including places and features which make it unique.

Make it abstract
People sewing designs on to a table cloth.

Create a piece of art that symbolises something meaningful to your area.

​Make it representative

Use the tablecloth as your canvas for a scene or theme.

Make it collaborative

Give everyone a designated section so that together, there is a whole and connected piece of community art.

After you've used your tablecloth, you could display it in a local community centre, village hall or even cut it into pieces and hand it out as keepsakes for everyone involved. Or keep it for a future event and get everyone to add to it all over again.