Custom Tarot Cloths

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forum and new to tarot, and I had a question regarding tarot cloths. I know they are not necessary to do a reading, but I would like to have one for my new deck. I found some cotton fabric in a celestial pattern that I absolutely love, but unfortunately I don't sew, so even a simple hem is beyond me. Does anyone know of someone who would make a cloth for me if I provided the fabric? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

<grin> This is an international forum, so people are unlikely to respond because of the likelihood of your being a long way away from them. Perhaps if you were to give at least a town, state and country, then people who might be inclined to sew for you would know whether offering will incur large mailing costs or not ...

Oops...I had not even thought of that... ;-) I live in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, USA. Hope that helps!

You don't need to know how to sew to make a spread cloth, I made mine without touching a needle (well, almost). I used a soft cloth for the top and felt for the bottom. Felt has a nice thickness to protect your cards, it does not slip so it has some grip, it's incredibly cheap (they almost give it away)... and no need to sew felt.

What you really need is felt for the bottom and glue specifically for cloth as well as a few needles to keep in place together both your cloth and the felt, but these are not needles for sewing though. Make sure to buy lots of glue because once you start you cannot really stop in the middle. You can find all these in fabrics stores.

Felt doesn't need any sewing for preparation, I mean by this sewing the edges to ensure the threads of the cloth won't fall and your project fall apart too. The soft cloth definitively really needs it though, but instead of sewing, you will glue the edges, around 3/4 inch of cloth that you fold all around your cloth on the edges, then you glue it and press it against the cloth. Then let your cloth dry completely.

Once it's dry comes the other part. You have to make sure that both your cloth and the felt are the same size. Put the the felt and cloth exactly on top of each other, then use the needles to stick both cloths together at many places and close to the edges to keep both well tight together. Then use again the glue but this time to glue the felt and the cloth together but at the edges only, like when you prepared earlier your cloth, 3/4 inch again, but this time no folding. The glue will make the cloth hard so it's best to keep the glue at the edges if you want to have your spread cloth to be smooth, like that at least your spread cloth will be smooth at the middle. It will become smoothier with time. Then you let it dry again completely, take off the needles, and you have a spread cloth without doing any sewing. The spread cloth is not washable so be careful with it.

Here is mine: http://www.coven-space.com/user/gallery/view/name_strangerealms/id_3544/album_395/

you can also use a iron-on fusible like Stitch Witchery (ribbon strips) or Heat 'n Bond (flat fabric).

Get a piece of felt a little bigger than you want your cloth to be. Iron the cloth and felt together with the fusible stuff of your choice. Use pinking shears to trim the edges, or trim with regular scissors and hot glue (or fabric glue, like Aleene's tacky glue) a pretty edge on.

Thank you both for the suggestions; I had not thought of doing it that way before. I guess I'll be able to make my own cloth after all. Thanks again!

I back up what has been said - none of mine have a stitch in sight...(although just thinking about it, I did stitch on the edging which was created using that thin cord you can buy)

Mine are double sided. All I did was cut half a metre of fabric, turn over all the edges by about .75 of an inch and glue. then I folded it over, and used the wonderweb stuff (heck knows what you call it where you live...lol) and ironed it together.... voila a double sided cloth

Good luck. It is kinda fun when you get into it.

Davina

shadowdancer:....and used the wonderweb stuff (heck knows what you call it where you live...lol) and ironed it together.... voila a double sided cloth.

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I call it 'wonderweb' as well Great stuff. After you've ironed the fabric(s) together they hold very well. You can even wash the piece (garment - whatever) provided the material is a washable one.

Bee

Rossi Gold said:

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forum and new to tarot, and I had a question regarding tarot cloths. I know they are not necessary to do a reading, but I would like to have one for my new deck. I found some cotton fabric in a celestial pattern that I absolutely love, but unfortunately I don't sew, so even a simple hem is beyond me. Does anyone know of someone who would make a cloth for me if I provided the fabric? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

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Hi...if you still would like the cloth sewn i'm right next door to you in Wisconsin pm me and I'll give you my address and i'll sew it up for you.