Pretty-ing up the Place

I love table runners.  A lot.  I have many, but there’s one problem with that.  They cost a lot, or at least they do when you buy them for every month season.  So when I started sewing earlier this year I knew that runners would be one of my first projects.  I wanted to start simple without any tassels or beads because hey, I’m still new to sewing afterall.  Oh, and I have small people who love shiny things and a cat who loves dangley things.

Choosing my fabric was hard, only because I love them all so much!!

textured strawberries, on a blue background and green and brown polka dots on a white background

I also cut a length of quilt batting at the last minute to make it a bit on the cushy side since I’ll be putting heavy things on top of it.

Pin everything together, batting on the bottom, then the fabrics right sides together, on top of the batting.

Not all my fabrics were cut exactly the same size.  It didn’t matter, when I finished with the trimming it all turned out the same.

Stitch all the way around, make sure you pivot in the corners.

Also make sure you leave a good enough hole in the stitching to turn the runner right side out.

I left about 8 inches of space.

Before turning, trim the edges as close to the stitching as possible, and cut the corners.

get as close as you can, but don't risk cutting the stitches.

Turn the runner right side out, poke the corners with a needle or pencil but be sure not to poke through the fabric like I did.

Afterwards give it a little iron and turn in the opening so that it’s a nice flat hem easy to topstitch.

Thought I'd give you a polka dot top this time

I top stitched with a 5/8 inch seam and it worked quite nicely.

I thought about stitching around a few more times quiltey style but it was getting late and I was anxious to see what it looked like!!!

Here’s the strawberry view:

My fav, but I'm not sure S. Geek will approve of this one...

And the polka dots:

I think S. Geek will be partial to this side so I've left it this way for when he gets back from his trip.

There!  The first of what will likely be many homemade runners!  So simple but since our house is 90% wood anything fabric that gets added injects so much warmth into the home.

Anyone else out there have problems with having too many hard surfaces in their home?  We have all wood and tile floors, with mostly wood furniture so sometimes it can get a bit loud here with all the sound bouncing off of everything.  Ah well, a bit at a time I guess.

Check out the sidebar for where I’m linking up on this beautiful Friday!!!

Hugs,

Jenn