I just love it when inspiration strikes!

I saw this cheap coffee table on CraigsList, and I thought Wow, that would make a great painted play table! However we have neither the need nor the room for a big play table. But then inspiration shot straight up through my hiney, haha, so to speak, b/c I thought it would be terrific to do a fabric slip cover (like my stool cushion, elastic around the bottom to hold on) for the coffee table, but made out of felt and have roads, etc. on it. Instant play table! space saving and easy to clean up!

I just love working with felt: it’s cheap as chips , wears well, and doesn’t fray. I also had an old round tablecloth I used as the base (but an old sheet or a piece of fabric would also work.

I just cut basic shapes for roads, houses, and stores, etc., and laid them out.

Then I used spray adhesive to attach them to the tablecloth base.

I pinned up the overhang on one side…

….And on the other side, I cut the tablecloth to make two wide strips and then pinned up either side of the strips.

I sewed a line along the edge of the opening to form pockets on each side, leaving the long strips on one side raw (they are ties to wrap the whole thing up when we’re done playing with it.

I clipped the corners while the slipcover was on the table, then slid it off and sewed right where the corners were clipped so the “city” wouldn’t slip off the table when the kids are playing with it.

Yay! Time to play!

And the clean up is super easy. Just fold and use the ties to wrap it up. nice!

So, what will you include on your instant play table slipcover? Train tracks? Ice cream parlor? Police station? Wheeee!