Some people have fully functional shops with lots and lots of space and every tool to do any job imaginable. I am not one of those people (yet). I am lucky to have found a shop that I can utilize at El Camino College, but sometimes I have to do my projects at home. And when I do them at home, I do them outside on our new garden table. I usually put craft paper over the table to protect it from paint or whatever, but the paper is not all that practical outside and can only be used once and then thrown away. I needed more durable and reusable solution.
Coincidentally, last Wednesday was the last class of the summer for me at ECC and I had an extra piece of 1/4” plywood left over from my TV stand project that I needed to do something with.
Why not cut it to be a reusable cover for my outside table? And make it so I can fold it up and put it in the closet when not in use? WHY NOT INDEED?
The table is 62” x 36” and the plywood was 2’ x 8’. So I decided the best use of the wood was to cut it into 3 panels that measured 20.6” x 32”. That way it would almost cover the entire tabletop. So I cut it on the panel saw and then ripped it on the table saw.
So how was I going to connect these 3 panels together? I thought at first piano hinge, but since the plywood is only 1/4” thick, screws wouldn’t really hold. Jack suggested using fabric glued onto the wood to act as a hinge. Brilliant! And I just so happened to have an old pair of jeans that were out of date and ready to be cut up!
I laid out the panels and decided that 4 inches was enough width, so I cut up the jeans and glued a strip to one side:
Yes, they are DOLCE & GABBANA JEANS. That’s how fabulous I am. I use D&G for scrap.
I made sure all the edges had plenty of glue.
Then I flipped over the 2 panels that were now together and attached the 3rd panel.
I let it sit for about an hour and voila! A foldable, storable, reusable table cover from stuff that would’ve just been thrown away.
