{Sew} Get Started: Quilted Table Runner Tutorial

Today I am totally thrilled to welcome my wonderful bloggy friend Susan who is guest posting with a great tutorial for a quilted table runner, using the really useful "Quilt as you Go" technique. I have "known" Susan for quite a while now, and she is one of my very favourite bloggers. She makes gorgeous quilty projects, in addition to being the sort of cook I aspire to be. As well as sharing her quilts and her cooking and baking, she is also very funny and always real. If you haven't visited her before, you definitely need to pop over to Canadian Abroad and say hi to her.

Susan is doing the Stained QAL too (although she's a bit further along than me!) and I just love how her quilt top looks, so bright and cheerful!

This tutorial is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series. To go to the master page with a full list of tutorials and links to past tutes, please click on the link.

So, Susan, it's over to you!

A huge thank you to Sarah for inviting me over to Ireland to do a tutorial. I always wanted to visit the south and see Cork. Probably because I heard it was a huge foodie place long before I found out that Sarah was here too. Quilting and eating - two of my passions!

My tutorial takes you through the steps to create a quilt-as-you-go table runner. It is a very simple design and once you have got the basics you will see that it would be very easy to incorporate some pieced strips, or vary the width of the fabric strips I have listed here. It is an easy design to adapt and make your own.

Fabric requirements -

You will need 17 strips of fabric measuring 3" x 14".
A piece of backing fabric that is width of fabric (presuming that the fabric is 44" wide) x 14".
One piece of wadding that is the same size as the backing fabric.

Layer the backing fabric and the wadding, removing any creases in either, and fold in half lengthwise to find the halfway point and use a pin to mark that point before laying flat again.

Work out how you wish to have the layout of your fabric strips in your runner.

Then remove the centre strip and place to one side. Form two piles of strips, one for each side of the runner, working from the inside strips out as you stack them so that the top strip in the pile is the fabric just to the side of the centre strip.

Time to start sewing. Take your centre fabric strip and pin it to the centre of your wadding/backing using the pin you placed to mark the centre point as a guide. Remember to remove the needle that marked the centre on the wadding before you pin the fabric strip and start sewing.

Before sewing, use your quilting ruler to ensure that you have the fabric square on to the runner.

Sew down both sides of the fabric strip to secure it to the runner. For this first strip you want to use approximately a 1/8" seam. This seam will be hidden once you have attached the adjoining strips.

Place one pile of fabric strips within easy reach of you and the sewing machine. Place the other pile well away so that you do not get confused and take fabric from the wrong pile. All the strips for one side of the runner will be attached before starting on the other side.

Taking the top piece of fabric from your stack place it on top of the centre strip, right sides together, edges of the fabric aligned.

Sew down one side of the strips with a 1/4" seam...

... and press the seam open.

You will want to repeat this process now until all the strips for one side are attached. Always align the edges of the fabric before you pin and sew. It is worthwhile to keep the end of the runner you are not using rolled up or pinned so that you do not inadvertently sew a strip on the wrong side. Do not worry if the ends of your strips are not perfectly aligned. These will be trimmed after the strips are all attached and this is not a problem.

When the final strip for one side is attached, secure it to the wadding/backing with an approximately 1/8" seam. This seam will be hidden once the binding is attached.

When you have completed one side of the runner, take your second stack of strips and repeat the process for the other side.

The backing of your runner will have quilt lines like this.

It is now time to trim and square up your runner. Using your quilting grid ruler as a guide, remove the excess wadding and backing fabric from either end of the quilt. Using your inner seam as a guide, trim at 2.75".

Fold your runner in half lengthwise. Align your two trimmed ends as precisely as you can. Using your ruler, set it along the edge, using the runner ends and the fold in the centre to make sure you are as square as possible. Trim the sides so that all discrepancies in strip ends are removed. I took off about 1/2" from either side of my runner.

Your runner is now ready for binding. You will require approximately 120" of binding to finish your runner. Binding has already been covered in other tutorials so I will just refer you to here for those instructions.

My finished runner measures 42" x 13". Now that it is completed I think I might do some embroidery in the linen strips that I used. Give it a more summery look maybe.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and another thank you to Sarah for having me as a guest.

Thanks Susan, I love this tute! If you make a table runner using this tute, please add to the Flickr group. And don't forget to pop back next week for Sara's post on Garment Making basics.