Custom Drawstring/Elastic Topper - What Material? (1 Viewer)

SteveEH

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Someone once said: "I'd drape myself in velvet if it was socially acceptable."

Unlike Knish, I don't have the balls to do that, but I could use velvet on my dining table for poker night!

I got this "Nylon Velvet Speed Cloth:"

PXL_20210816_172116755.jpg


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I like the looks and feel of it, and it's smooth enough for a 47" round table, but it's really stiff and I'm doubting a drawstring or elastic would be able to get it flush enough. Maybe if I ironed it first? Anyone else had experience with this? I wonder if it's "real" or if I got duped...

Anyone have experience with other fabrics that would take a drawstring/elastic? I want something that's washable/stain resistant, won't pill, and will hold up over time. I will pay for quality. Here's some Research I've done:

- Wool/nylon blend (aka Baize) felt used for pool tables. From what I've read, a high wool content will not pill.

- Velveteen. I heard this has a grain that will affect card slide. Will that be an issue on a 47" round table though? Can it be washed?

- Gaming suede. Probably the least desirable for me, but I'll take it if none of the above work.

Thx
 
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Our primary table is suited speedcloth and I made that into a hoodie with draw-strings. It does have a rail, which helps keep it flat. Once we install it for the game, before the rail, you'll want to smooth it out at the edges.

Tagging @Poker Zombie to include the link that shows the cloth.
 
Before the cloth, lay foam. The foam and surface must be independent to facilitate wrinkle-free rolling for storage. The foam has plenty of overlap, which is fine - it's going to get pulled under by the topper.
IMG_0097.JPG


The actual surface, like Mrs Zombie mentions, is suited speed cloth. She sewed a long track into it and fed a really, really long fabric cord into it. The cord hangs out of 2 holes (reinforced with a grommet) at the 2 middle seats.
IMG_0098.JPG


Under the table, the 2 exposed loops are pulled together and held tight by one of those things you find on a kid's cowboy hat. It probably has a name and is available on Amazon or at your local fabric store. Or you can just take some poor schmuck's hat. You could also tie the ends together, but where's the fun in that?
IMG_0099.JPG



This is before we add the rail, but you can see that even a very stiff fabric like speedcloth pulls smooth. This is about how you would expect a dining table without a rail to look when completed.
IMG_0100.JPG


These are old pics we had laying around. If you need more details, just ask! :tup:
 
Before the cloth, lay foam. The foam and surface must be independent to facilitate wrinkle-free rolling for storage. The foam has plenty of overlap, which is fine - it's going to get pulled under by the topper.
View attachment 757502

The actual surface, like Mrs Zombie mentions, is suited speed cloth. She sewed a long track into it and fed a really, really long fabric cord into it. The cord hangs out of 2 holes (reinforced with a grommet) at the 2 middle seats.
View attachment 757503

Under the table, the 2 exposed loops are pulled together and held tight by one of those things you find on a kid's cowboy hat. It probably has a name and is available on Amazon or at your local fabric store. Or you can just take some poor schmuck's hat. You could also tie the ends together, but where's the fun in that?
View attachment 757504


This is before we add the rail, but you can see that even a very stiff fabric like speedcloth pulls smooth. This is about how you would expect a dining table without a rail to look when completed.
View attachment 757512

These are old pics we had laying around. If you need more details, just ask! :tup:
Nice!.

I would like to do this with my current table build. I've done the same with a cheap piece of velveteen, so it's good to know speed cloth does the same, as I'd like to use speed cloth instead.

I was thinking about attaching snap fasteners to the cloth and the table instead of using a draw string. Do you think it would work with the speed cloth? Or is drawstring the way to go?

Before the cloth, lay foam. The foam and surface must be independent to facilitate wrinkle-free rolling for storage. The foam has plenty of overlap, which is fine - it's going to get pulled under by the topper.
View attachment 757502

The actual surface, like Mrs Zombie mentions, is suited speed cloth. She sewed a long track into it and fed a really, really long fabric cord into it. The cord hangs out of 2 holes (reinforced with a grommet) at the 2 middle seats.
View attachment 757503

Under the table, the 2 exposed loops are pulled together and held tight by one of those things you find on a kid's cowboy hat. It probably has a name and is available on Amazon or at your local fabric store. Or you can just take some poor schmuck's hat. You could also tie the ends together, but where's the fun in that?
View attachment 757504


This is before we add the rail, but you can see that even a very stiff fabric like speedcloth pulls smooth. This is about how you would expect a dining table without a rail to look when completed.
View attachment 757512

These are old pics we had laying around. If you need more details, just ask! :tup:
also - how do you attach your rails?
 
"I've done the same with a cheap piece of velveteen"

Hard to determine what is cheap vs quality out there :(
 
"I've done the same with a cheap piece of velveteen"

Hard to determine what is cheap vs quality out there :(
Yeah, I’ve got no idea, but it definitely cost me the least!
It actually worked, pulls tight nicely, and I kinda love the look, but as a material for cards, it stops them dead in their tracks.
I wasn’t sure if speed cloth was going to be the answer, and I’ve been trying to figure out alternatives, but after reading above I think I will give the speed cloth a try.
keen to hear if you have success with other materials though
 
Wow that bad for cards? Must have been bad quality as I've read other threads saying velveteen was pretty good, but not as good as speed cloth/gaming suede for card slide.
 
Until very recently, I've used velveteen on our 2nd table. It looks great and is very soft, but there is a nap to it that makes pitching cards one direction near impossible.

Since my velveteen surface was an inlay (the table doubles as Mrs Zombie's sewing table, and the inlay is replaced with corkboard for that purpose), I swapped it out last event for one of the PCF table toppers. The change was extraordinarily well liked, and I will not be using the velveteen for poker again (I will still use the velveteen for a board game table).

I was thinking about attaching snap fasteners to the cloth and the table instead of using a draw string. Do you think it would work with the speed cloth? Or is drawstring the way to go?
My first "poker table", was the dining table covered with a thin polyester blanket, covered with a tablecloth, and the tablecloth was duct taped to the underside of the table.

If your snaps are strong enough to withstand the pulling that occurs when scooping pots, they should work, much like my duct tape. However, the duct tape had the tendency to let go by the end of the night.

also - how do you attach your rails?
The rail is 2 pieces of plywood, screwed together. The top one is 5", and sits on top of the table with about 1.5" overhang all the way around. The bottom part (screwed to the top) prevents any lateral movement. Of course, there is foam and fabric wrapping the exposed sides of the rail. This is the view under the rail:
2021-08-18 10.34.42.jpg


This is what it takes to set up the table (if you move really, really fast)...
Time-lapse video of Table 1 setup
 
I was thinking about attaching snap fasteners to the cloth and the table instead of using a draw string. Do you think it would work with the speed cloth? Or is drawstring the way to go?
Personally, I would not. A drawstring allows the entire circumference to have the same amount of pull and you can distribute the fabric. Snaps allow play and uneven pull, thus puckers.
 
Before the cloth, lay foam. The foam and surface must be independent to facilitate wrinkle-free rolling for storage. The foam has plenty of overlap, which is fine - it's going to get pulled under by the topper.
Have you tried different types of foam? What type of foam is have you found to work the best?

The actual surface, like Mrs Zombie mentions, is suited speed cloth. She sewed a long track into it and fed a really, really long fabric cord into it. The cord hangs out of 2 holes (reinforced with a grommet) at the 2 middle seats.
Could you take a close up of where the cord comes out of the track so I can see how she reinforced it with the grommet?

These are old pics we had laying around. If you need more details, just ask! :tup:
Any additional pics that show how the rail was put together or the cord & track would be appreciated. I am going to give this a go..
It really looks like a good solution!
 
We used headliner foam from YourAutoTrim.com.

We have 2 grommet holes, under what you could call the dealer's position and the 5 seat (across from the dealer). The cord is tied to be a infinite loop. It doesn't have to be, but if you ever had a drawstring pull back into fabric, you know how irritating it can be to free it - and that is when you are sober. At the end of a poker night, sobriety is less certain, so I made it drunk-proof.

I didn't have the photos you wanted, so I just unrolled this on the livingroom floor, in case you were wondering what perspective you were looking at.
Photo #1; Dealer's Grommet. As you can see from the last put-a-way, the cord got pulled all the way in on this side. My advance drunk-planning works.
2021-10-06 17.32.52.jpg


Photo #2: #5 seat. The bobbin is there because I run the black shoelace (seen in pic #1) around a bobbin I stole from Mrs Zombie. I put it there because I was concerned that pulling the shoelace through a cord-loop may create friction and eventually cut through the cord. This may be over-planning, as I am fairly certain the speedcloth will wear out before the cord could.
2021-10-06 17.33.01.jpg


Since this is on the floor and wide open, the shoelace and the bobbin are nowhere close. Use your imagination and run the pointy end of the shoelace through the bobbin (or just the loop) and back to that cowboy-hat thingy. Better photo of that above.
2021-10-06 17.35.22.jpg


Hope this helps. We didn't take photos of the construction process, because we weren't sure what we were doing at the time. 98% of home-made poker table innovation winds up on the fugly table thread, we just happened to hit our one-outer.
 
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We used headliner foam from YourAutoTrim.com.
thanks. I'll check that out.

We have 2 grommet holes, under what you could call the dealer's position and the 5 seat (across from the dealer). The cord is tied to be a infinite loop. It doesn't have to be, but if you ever had a drawstring pull back into fabric, you know how irritating it can be to free it - and that is when you are sober. At the end of a poker night, sobriety is less certain, so I made it drunk-proof.
Brilliant! Good idea.

I didn't have the photos you wanted, so I just unrolled this on the livingroom floor.......
Thanks for making the effort

Hope this helps.
yes it did. Thanks!

We didn't take photos of the construction process, because we weren't sure what we were doing at the time. 98% of home-made poker table innovation winds up on the fugly table thread, we just happened to hit our one-outer.
Being on the right end of a one outer is fun!
 
Used my nylon velvet speed cloth topper with 1/4" foam underneath for the first time last night. It was a pain to get the foam aligned but worked well once it was on. Maybe a bit too bouncy, and a thinner foam would have worked better because the material already has a thick nylon backing.

From a design perspective, I'd recommend putting holes every couple of feet around the diameter of the topper in case you have to change the elastic drawstring.

PXL_20220410_164735104.jpg


PXL_20220409_231754710.jpg
 
Our primary table is suited speedcloth and I made that into a hoodie with draw-strings. It does have a rail, which helps keep it flat. Once we install it for the game, before the rail, you'll want to smooth it out at the edges.

Tagging @Poker Zombie to include the link that shows the cloth.
Hi Mrs Poker Zombie - - I've read all the info you've posted on this forum about building/making a poker table topper...and have a few more questions. I have a rectangular nice table for multi use in my basement. i have bought a large piece of poker foam and poker speed cloth that i want to make a topper out of. I like the drawstring concept...but
1) does that work on a rectangular table?
2) how do you attach the cloth to the foam? Glue?
3) for the drawstring channel, what overlaps? The foam or just extra overlapping fabric?
New to this site, so any info you could provide would help...also, I'm not really handy, so who would do this type of work? A handyman or seamstress?
 
Hi Mrs Poker Zombie - - I've read all the info you've posted on this forum about building/making a poker table topper...and have a few more questions. I have a rectangular nice table for multi use in my basement. i have bought a large piece of poker foam and poker speed cloth that i want to make a topper out of. I like the drawstring concept...but
1) does that work on a rectangular table?
2) how do you attach the cloth to the foam? Glue?
3) for the drawstring channel, what overlaps? The foam or just extra overlapping fabric?
New to this site, so any info you could provide would help...also, I'm not really handy, so who would do this type of work? A handyman or seamstress?
Mrs Zombie won't be able to respond until tomorrow, but...

2) The foam does not get attached to the cloth. We roll the foam separately, because you cannot roll them up together. When rolling 2 items in one roll, one (the item on the inside of the roll) has to traverse a shorter distance, therefore it gets wrinkled. That could create permanent creases that would make your table unsightly (wrinkled speed cloth) or bumpy (wrinkled foam).

If that doesn't make sense, try this: fold a pair of jeans so one leg is on top of the other. Next, starting from the waist, roll them up. As you roll them up, you will notice a bump form on the top leg. You can either roll over the bump (thus creating a wrinkle), or extend the pantleg which you could not do if the top and bottom layer were attached to each other.
 
I'm currently building a collapsible table and have yet to decide whether I glue my chanman cloth to the underlying foam or not.

If I do glue it, with 3M 77, I don't intend rolling it up as such but more to drape it over something with the cloth on the outside and the open-cell foam backing on the inside. With firmer closed-cell foam I can imagine a tension at the join surface, especially if rolled relatively tightly, would cause wrinkling, but with open-cell, and the really loose curve/bend, it may be alright.

I need to experiment a bit on some offcuts first though to see whether the adhesive keeps hold when the two layers are curved even loosely.
 
I'm currently building a collapsible table and have yet to decide whether I glue my chanman cloth to the underlying foam or not.

If I do glue it, with 3M 77, I don't intend rolling it up as such but more to drape it over something with the cloth on the outside and the open-cell foam backing on the inside. With firmer closed-cell foam I can imagine a tension at the join surface, especially if rolled relatively tightly, would cause wrinkling, but with open-cell, and the really loose curve/bend, it may be alright.

I need to experiment a bit on some offcuts first though to see whether the adhesive keeps hold when the two layers are curved even loosely.

One of my tables has foam from YourAutoTrim.com. The table is ~13-15 years old. The surface is still good, but the foam has started to collapse, leaving flat spots like there is no foam.

That table I pulled the felt tight over the foam and stapled it. I need to replace the foam but will keep the felt. I do not look forward to the day Mrs Zombie and I start pulling staples to replace the foam, but at least it wasn't glued to the felt and can be reused.

Think twice before gluing. It's not necessary, and could cause problems down the road.
 
Hi Mrs Poker Zombie - - I've read all the info you've posted on this forum about building/making a poker table topper...and have a few more questions. I have a rectangular nice table for multi use in my basement. i have bought a large piece of poker foam and poker speed cloth that i want to make a topper out of. I like the drawstring concept...but
1) does that work on a rectangular table?
2) how do you attach the cloth to the foam? Glue?
3) for the drawstring channel, what overlaps? The foam or just extra overlapping fabric?
New to this site, so any info you could provide would help...also, I'm not really handy, so who would do this type of work? A handyman or seamstress?
Thank you for asking. Let me see if I can assist.

As a general concept, you should be able to setup a drawstring cover on a rectangle. That said, the corners will be tricky, since there will be significantly more fabric in those spots. Were I to try, I would have four channels (created by folding and sewing the cloth) - one along each side - with open areas in the corners, but with one continuous "string" (don't use string, use something stronger). Once pulled tight at each corner, I'd have built-in Velcro to create a pleat/fold to hold the corner tight. I can kind of picture this in my head, but I cannot say if it'll truly work.

Alternatively, create straps that cross from side to side, at least 3 if not 4, across the underside of the table. They could clip or have handle areas to connect. Then you could pull it tight across the length. I'd then have 2 more at each end that go from the ends to the first cross strap. Again, easier to visualize than describe.

As PZ said, no glue.

Hope this helps!
 

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