Fat Quarter Table Runner

We had a Sunday out and I came across a Hobbycraft shop in the shopping arcade.  Well, what's a girl supposed to do??  You can't not go in, that would be silly!  So I dragged him in to 'just take a look-just in case'....  Well they had some fat quarters on sale and again thinking it would be silly to go in and not buy something (Yeah right, like I need sewing supplies!!) I picked up a couple of Christmas-y themed fat quarter packs with a view to making a table runner and some table mats for Christmas day dinner.

• have you ever tried explaining the concept of a fat quarter to a guy who has no idea about fabric and thinks its to do with the shape of a female?  I think the ladies in the shop were glad we were leaving as the conversation got a little too loud.....

As you will know by now if you have been reading my blog, I have not done any piecing other than the hexy piece hand sewing projects I have done, so I didn't really know where to start.

I trawled through my patterns and the internet and finally happened upon a chevron design for a runner which I felt I could handle and so set about cutting out the pieces.

• I had a hissy fit during the making of this project and so didn't get any  starting photos as I have to rely on one of my daughters to take the photographs for me; as they were giving me a wide berth, all I have are start and end pictures nothing in the middle.  Note to self - get photos and then have a hissy fit!!!

So I spent a lot of time cutting out the 4" squares, drawing diagonal lines, sewing either side, cutting through the middle to make the 'triangle-square' pieces to make up the chevron design.  I found this particularly rewarding and quick even though I found tying off the ends of my threads a little tedious as I do not have a 'proper' reverse stitch on my hand-crank Singer (see previous Introduction blog).                         Note to self ; find a 'nickname' for my sewing machine!!

Anyhoo, I completed the patterned top of the runner and was really pleased with the result. However, when I placed it on my table to see how it looked, the table looked so huge it buried the runner.  I went back to the 'drawing board' and realised that I had enough material to double up on the design so I cut out, drew and sewed some more to make another runner.  I went back to the table and placed both pieces on it but it still looked a little lost.  I now had very little material left from my fat quarter packs but I did have some 'odd' triangles of each left over.

Thinking cap on and a little time to spare (I know, don't ask me, I don't know where it came from either!!), I decided to play a little with the triangle/square design and using the few oddments piecing these together to make squares of four triangles, I made a centre piece mismatching them together into a separate design.  (see photo below of middle section and border).

A thought then crossed my mind that I would need something to make the back with.  Now it isn't as if I don't have a glut of material - previous posts and my family will testify that I am a fabric hoarder - but I just couldn't find a piece suited to the cotton top of my runner.  Unfortunately with a few minutes spare at work and idle hands, I managed to find a perfect piece of red (not pink as it seems to have come out in the photo here) cotton with little gingerbread men on it - perfect.  The purchase was made and the following day - yep that quickly! - my material arrived at work. 

As soon as I got in, coffee made and laptop tuned into the radio I set about finishing the back.  I had to cut two pieces of equal length from the material and piece it in the middle so it was long enough to cover the front and have enough left at either end to act as a binding.  I then cut pieces to go around the mini mid-section piece which would also add additional inches to the length of the finished piece.  Both 'ends' of the runner were sewn to the mid section.

I then spray-glued the wadding and top runner and put them together and then glued this to the gingerbread backing making sure to centre (or as near as I could) the top runner onto my backing.  As this was the first of this type of project, I wanted to ensure that I covered all bases so I also pinned the backing at the corners and middle 'just in case'.

The edge of the gingerbread fabric was the folded over the top and ironed down to made a crease which I then used to fold the edge to and refold - making a sort of binding - all the way around.  When I got to the corners I couldn't decide what to do - did I just square them off or fold the corners in like a present to make a 'triangle' end? I left the decision as I discovered when I got to the corner that I could leave them alone whilst I top sewed the runner to the backing around the edge.

I eventually made the decision to fold back the raw edges underneath making like a triangle end (like on a parcel) and then hand stitched them to finish off the runner.


I then placed the runner on the table and placed a couple of my glass-jar ornaments on top 'just to see'. Even though I say so myself, I am really pleased with the result.  However, I am now 5 place mats short of a Christmas dinner table setting and as work has gone from quiet to manically busy, no hope in sight of getting them done.  Do you think napkin rings would make up for this if I make them using the chevron design and my pieces of left over fat quarter?  Neither do I but watch this space - snow is on its way and I may just get a couple of more hours sewing ...................