$20 Vera Neumann design tablecloths at Home Goods — Kate uses three to make roman shades

Do you love vintage-style Vera Neumann? Do you love a great deal? Then check out Home Goods, because right now they have lots of colorful new tablecloths featuring vintage Vera Neumann designs. UPDATE: Reader Donna also reported finding these styles and a few more at Steinmart, TJ Maxx and Marshall’s — the second photo above is hers — thanks, Donna! This is versatile medium-weight, indoor-outdoor fabric: Kate skipped right past “tablecloth” and bought a bunch to make no-sew roman shades for her screen porch. How about using this fabric to make: Patio cushion covers… a bedskirt… window valances… pinch pleat panels…? Lots of yardage — 60″ wide and up to 102″ long — lots of vintage-style Vera Neumann happy retro color — for the money.

Kate was the one who spotted this deal and came up with the idea to use the tablecloths, in bulk, for her window treatment project. She wrote:

I needed a lot of wide, mid-weight fabric to make roman shades for my screen porch. But I wanted both retro style and an affordable fabric option. Thinking creatively trolling Home Goods, I hit the jackpot when I spotted Vera Neumann-design tablecloths in a 60- inch wide, medium weight, spill resistant indoor/outdoor fabric. I instantly loved the flowery retro Vera print and color. I bought three tablecloths — each about $20, for fabric at the equivalent of $7 a yard. Perfect! Now, I had the fabric I needed to make my no-sew, DIY roman shades.

There were several color ways and patterns available in sizes like 60 in x 84 inch oblong, 60 in x 102 inch oblong, 60 in x 120 inch oblong and a 70 inch round tablecloth. I swiped all three available tablecloths in this pattern. The two 60 x 84 tablecloths were $16.99 and the 60 x 102 tablecloth was $19.99 — a great deal for 7.5 yards of 60 inch-width fabric designed by Vera Neumann.

This whole project cost me just under $150. A fair chunk of that expense went to extra-long wood battens that I needed to buy given the width of my windows. Even so, I suspect that buying ready made roman shades in these large sizes would be much more expensive.

Kate fashioned her shades using tutorials she found online. Note, dear readers, that if you do a project like this, be sure to study up first on how to handle the cords — they can be a safety issue for children, pets, etc.

After Kate told me about her project, I stopped at my local Home Goods in Pittsfield, Mass. to see if there the Vintage Vera tablecloths were in stores nationwide. Yup, seems so: Lots of these tablecloths were on the shelves, including multiples, in case you’re thinking “project.” UPDATE: I checked Amazon, and they also have lots of Vintage Vera products, including tablecloths, if you can’t find them locally; I saw other patterns, too:

Lots of Vera Neumann on Amazon*affiliate link —
it’s so nice to see her designs licensed and reproduced again so widely today
.Pinch pleat panels? Heck to the yeah — seems to me that two 60×102″ tablecloths would convert very nicely into a pair of full-length, 84″ tall pinch pleat curtains suitable for, say,  a 36″ or 40″ wide window. Just one 60×102″ tablecloth, turned lengthwise, could be enough material to create a pair of sill-length pinch pleats for a 40×48″ window…

Or, just buy one of these Vintage Vera tablecloths — and use it as a tablecloth!