Harvest Table Runner

I know that my love for Anna Maria Horner is very apparent from all of my blog posts and what not. But that love has deepened ever since I got a hold of her new cotton velveteen collection. This fabric is so luxurious! I knew that it was absolutely PERFECT for this project that I have been thinking of working on for a while now.

You can see the gorgeous sheen on this fabric. ooo lala.

I was playing around with the width. See, I wanted a wide and super-long table runner. This fabric is 54 inch wide fabric like most home decor weight fabric, about 10 inches wider than the standard quilting cotton. I only bought 1 yard (at $20/yard, eeeeek I know). So that meant that I had 36x54 fabric. Soooo given that I wanted this table runner to fit our table with both leaves in (that would make the table 96 inches long) I knew that I need to cut up the fabric into 3 pieces. So that left me with 3 18x36 inch strips.

 

Then I had to piece some backing for the runner. I just used some white and off-white fabric with a faint flower print on it. Very subtle. I started thinking that maybe this table runner was TOO long.... wouldn't even fit in our upstairs hallway! I also pieced a middle layer. At first I thought about using batting for the middle layer, but then I had that heat resistant fabric that you would typically use for potholders and ironing boards... so I used that.

Then I cut the ends to come to a point. I learned that the general rule to making the point look proportionate is dividing the width by 2. Therefore, 18/2 = 9 inches.

Then I piled all three layers together and started stitching. Notice that the velveteen and the backing were sewn right sides together so I can turn the table runner inside out.

After I sewed it all together, flipped it inside-out, and ironed it flat, it still didn't look "finished". I had the idea that maybe if I topstitched around the outside that might give it a more professional look. I used my 1/4 inch foot and topstitched around the entire outside. I am very happy with how it turned out!

Now, my favorite part. Time for some glamor shots.

Are you loving it as much as I am?

Another project checked off the bucket list!!! Wooohooo! Check out my flickr account and the sidebar on my blog for all of my finished projects. Enjoy!


Holler!