Table Runner Tutorial for Mrs. T

revisiting my February dining table

A week or so ago when I posted about the Valentine decorations here at The Brown Bungalow, Mrs. T from Across My Kitchen Table left some very complimentary comments. 

In particular, she wanted to know about the table runner pattern on my dining table. I had said I use that pattern a lot and she wanted to know more about it.

Please forgive the awkwardness of the camera angle here. I was trying to get a close-up of the entire runner and therefore had to tilt the camera like this. I tried turning the photo around and that just made it worse. This makes me dizzy!

Anyway, I have lost count of how many of these runners I've made over the last 17 years or so.  It's really simple, made up of as many squares as you need to make the size you want (forgive me. That sounds like my mother's recipe for potato salad: "Use as many potatoes as you need to get the amount of salad you desire.")

For most of my runners, the squares are cut to 3 1/4 inches, which means that after sewing with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, each finished square will be 2  3/4 inches square.

Autumn/Thanksgiving table runner

The finished runner is about 12 inches wide by 50 inches long, but of course you can lengthen or shorten it by the number of squares you use. This brown runner has 44 squares, backing, batting, and a binding.

I like to lay out my squares so I can get them arranged the way I want for a real "scrappy" feel. Sew the squares together in rows, then sew the rows together, staggering them so the finished product is "on point" (diagonal). 

I like to use sticky dots that I've numbered to keep my rows straight in my mind. After you've sewn the rows together it will look a lot like the above picture.  Then you have to get your long acrylic ruler (or a yard stick) and line it up carefully along the longer outer two edges of the runner and cut off the outer squares so that it's straight on those edges. (does this make sense?)

Then the top is done. You make the quilt "sandwich", layering the top with batting and backing (using your top piece as the cutting pattern for the batting and backing). 

Quilt it all together using free-motion stippling as I did with the brown/aqua example, or simply "stitch in the ditch" (straight seams in the "ditch" where the fabrics meet).

The last thing you do is to sew on your binding and it's done!

pattern made with smaller squares

This last photo I'm sharing is a runner I made with this same method except that my squares are cut smaller, probably something like 2  1/2 inches (for a finished 2-inch square). Again, you cut all the squares the same size and cut as many as you need for the size you desire your finished table runner to be.

That's it!  Give it a try.  I think you'll like it. For me, it's a good way to use up scraps.

By the way, I said at the top of this post that Mrs. T wanted to know how to make this project. Go visit her blog. It is very homey and laid out so well. Click here to see it: Across My Kitchen Table

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