My father-in-law’s birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and on the day of the party I decided that our tablescape would be a billion times cuter if I had a cheery quilted table runner as a centerpiece. A quick dip into my fabric stash, and a few hours later I had a runner all ready to rock. Here’s how!
Supplies
- Sewing machine and thread
- 1 large piece of fabric for your backing cut to 9″ x 65″
- 8 pieces of scrap fabric, cut to 9″ X 8 1/2″
- Pins
- Iron
Directions
- Piece your design by laying out your fabric scraps. This is probably my favorite part of quilting – deciding which pieces will look best where. Tweak your layout until you have your fabric in the order you want.
- Take the first two pieces of fabric for your runner and pin them right sides together along one 9″ side. Sew them together down that side with a straight stitch leaving a 1/4″ seam.
- Grab the next piece for your runner and pin that to the end of the row, also right sides together. Stitch, leaving a 1/4″ seam. Repeat until you’ve sewn together all of your pieces. You should now have a long, skinny quilt top.
- Flip your runner’s top so it’s right side up and press the seams down neatly.
- Top-stitch along each seam, so it’s secure.
- Grab your large piece of fabric and pin it to the runner top, right sides together.
- Use your machine to sew around the edge of your runner, making sure to leave a 2″ opening, so that you can flip it right side out.
- Turn your runner right side out, pressing the opening in, so it lines up with the rest of the side. Once it’s pressed neatly, sew around the edges of the runner.
- You have a couple of options at the end here. I opted for more of a crazy quilt, using curvy lines to add texture. You can top-stitch yours the way I did or be a bit more methodical about it, adding straight horizontal and vertical lines, if you prefer a more geometric look.
Have you guys made a table runner before? I’d love to hear what you’ve been working on in the comments!
love how simple that is! I really need to get on making a runner for the top of my (high-polished finish) piano. Now that my kid is taking piano lessons and setting her binder and books on top of it all the time, its really just a matter of time before it gets scratched. Thanks for the inspiration that it dosen’t have to be time-consuming to work! Maybe I’ll do it today!
I’ve never quilted before, so I am wondering about the “quilt” top. Do I just sew lines in a pattern that looks good to me? Thanks!