Thursday 7 January 2010

TABLECLOTH TUTORIALS

Kain seperah is derived from Turkish word sofra, a piece of cloth spread on dining table. Here in Malaysia or rather for Malay traditional feast practiced sometimes ago, the food was served on seperah laid on the floor where we usually sit to have our meals for four people. Or they had the seperah laid from wall to wall and guests will sit along side them. This will also serve as to catch drips and crumbs from staining the polished wooden floor.These seperah were usually neatly embroidered and beautifully embellished by the ladies, and each one holds the pride of the owner.

The one that I made is quite simple and embroidered by machine even though sometimes I do make free motion machine embroidery using the traditional method. I have some classes for enthusiast youngsters ..... which were thinning in numbers now.....

Okay, I received few request on how I make my seperah itself before the embroidery things get into it. I prefer mine as a square tablecloth measuring 3'0" squares and here are some guides:

Hemming a Square Tablecloth:

1. Measure 36" + 1.5" on all sides for hemming. Total we have 39"x 39" square cloth.

2.To mitre the corners. Measure 3" on each corner and mark a line across on wrong side of fabrics. (Here I make my own corner template and pencil mark the diagonal line)




3. Fold from one edge meets the other then sew along pencil line, leaving 1/4" and reverse stitch.









4. Cut off the corners about 1/4" away from stitching line









5. Open and finger-pressed the seam. Turn right side out and making sure the corner-edge are well pushed out. Do the same to all four corners.







6. Fold in 1/4" seam and pin up. After turning under we have
1 1/4" hemming left. Sew all four sides.








7. Done with the hemming. Some decorative stitches are recommended for added value. Embroider as you wish. Iron and fold, ready as a gift....!

P/S This method has been applied to my custom made seperah because it lays on neatly and gives weight after embroidering.

13 comments:

far@nep said...

HI KAK DIAH....can u teach me how to do embroidery using normal sewing machine?

Salmi said...

salam kakdee, always admire your neat work be it quilting or embroidery..sal dah lamaa berangan-angan nak hand embroidery table cloth and runner cuma tak berkesempatan lagi..thanks so much for the tutorial..it will help me a lot :-)

Diah Rothman said...

Cookies, hi!
To embroider using normal sewing machine (NSM) will be much tougher than embroidery sewing machine (ESM) cos we could not get a smooth, nicely curved design due to the need of changing width of stitches and on the other hand we are holding the hoop for movements. But through practice it is possible. Much easier, fast and neat by using the ESM. Mine is the Singer20U. What is yours?
But dear, I am in Alor Setar... :)

Diah Rothman said...

W'salam Salmi and thanks for the compliments.
Glad, with that it will give some guidance with which there are plenty of ways of such.
Hope to see yours soon... take care dear and happy sewing.... KDee loves your RE... fabulous!

ainiayu said...

salam k/dee....lama tk tegur k/dee...selalu melawat je....heheh..thanks sbb sudi kongsi tutorial saprah ni....lepas ni insyaallah saprah yg saya buat akan jd lbh cantik....saya nk tanya...k/dee pernah tak buat saprah yg bersulam keliling....saya pernah buat tp selalunya saprah tu tk terletak cantik di lantai....mesti kedut2 bahagian dalam....klu k/dee ada cara yg lbh baik sudila kongsi dgn saya....

Mrs. Fedex said...

wah.. wah.. tak terpikir gini..
nice sgt.. thanks KD..
selalu lipat jer bodo2..
today bleh try teknik KD.. tq..

Diah Rothman said...

W'salam Ainiayu, yalah lama takde berita.. dah buat design yang KD bagi tu...!
Kedut tu mungkin ditarik dgn ram tu kuat sangat kut/atau longgar sangat... Satu lagi KD tak suka guna rubber sheet keliling ram tu, dan tak pernah guna kertas lapik. Once kertas tu kita tarik keluar benang jadi macam longgar dan nak buang kertas dia pun sepasal juga kan kecuali guna watersoluble paper paling bagus tapi very costly. Lepas sulam cuba gosok bagi sulaman tu stay SET (matikan). Tarik fabric agak tegang saja sudah memadai.... Cuba Ayu buat cam ni. InsyaAllah...

Diah Rothman said...

Mrs Fedex, serba sedikit dapat memberi ilmu apa yang KD tahu ...
KD pun banyak nak belajar dari Mus... Mus kan pandai masak!

Alviana said...

what a very creative & awesome way to make a square hem. great tutorial kak diah! :)

Diah Rothman said...

Thanks Alviana.
Just from my point of view...hope it serves the purpose... :)

ainiayu said...

thanks ye k/dee...insyaallah nnt saya cuba...design yg k/dee bg tu ada gak yg saya cuba...alhamdulillah jd & dh selamat digunakan...hehehe...tk sempat amik gambo...

AlamHati said...

salam

nnt nak cuba buat...but belum faham lg..slowly la k..baru terkena sew addict..machine lum beli lg...follow u

Diah Rothman said...

W'Salam AlamHati.

Kalau dah bersemangat tentu menjadi... cubalah...nnti tunjuk yer!