Quilts, Quilts and Home Decor, Tutorials, Uncategorized

Tutorial: Rainbow Sherbet Table Runner

At the beginning of the year, I won a wonderful 22-square charm pack from Seaside Stitches. The fabrics were from Sandi Henderson’s Meadowsweet line. I finally figured out what to make with them, so I thought I would share what I did in this one-evening project!

Table Runner
Finished size: 28″ x 12″


Materials
– 21 five-inch charm squares
– 32″ x 15″ backing fabric
– 32″ x 15″ piece of batting
– approximately 90″ of double-fold bias (see Step 7)
– rotary cutter/cutting mat
– coordinating thread

Step 1.
Start by taking a charm square and cutting it in half. Set one half aside. Take the remaining half and cut it in half again. This will leave you with a rectangle that is 5″ x 2.5″ and two squares that are each 2.5″ x 2.5″. Repeat with all of the charm squares.

Step 2.
Take two of the 2.5″ x 2.5″ squares. Sew them, right sides together, along one edge. Press seam open. Randomly align some of your squares vertically and some of them horizontally, as pictured above. Some of the fabrics that I used were directional (in the case of the strawberries), so I took note of this when grouping the squares. If your prints are not directional, then you don’t have to worry about the alignment. Repeat this step until all of your 2.5″ squares are sewn together in sets of two.

Step 3.
Take one of your 5″ x 2.5″ rectangles and one of your 2.5″ square sets that you just sewed together. With the right sides together, place the long edge of the rectangle even with the long edge of your square set. Sew together. Press seam open. Again, take note of any directional prints and combine them appropriately. Sew approximately half of them with the rectangle placed vertically (the block on the left), and half with the rectangle placed horizontally (the block on the right).

Step 4.
You probably noticed, after sewing your blocks together, that the rectangle portion hangs longer than the other side of the block. Trim the excess with your rotary cutter. Now your block will be an even 4.5″ x 4.5″.

Step 5.
Now that your blocks are all assembled, it’s time to choose your layout! You will be laying the blocks out in 3 rows of 7 blocks per row. The picture above shows how to proceed with the layout. Starting from left to right, your blocks will be:
1. Rectangle at top of block.
2. Rectangle at left of block.
3. Rectangle at bottom of block.
4. Rectangle at right of block.

Repeat this sequence until you reach the end of the row. When starting on the second row, you will continue the sequence from where you left off on the first row. Repeat for the third row until you have used all 21 blocks.

Step 6.
Sew the blocks in the first row together to make one long strip. Repeat for the second and third rows. Note: if you come across any adjacent blocks with the smaller squares touching, make sure to match up the seam so that the squares will align (for example, in the picture above, do you see the two strawberry prints to the right of the two plaid prints? Those squares should be level). You will press the seams of the first and third rows to the right, and press the seams of the second row to the left. This will help you match up seams when you sew the rows together. Sew the first two to the second, and the second row to the third. Press seams open. Now the front of your table runner is complete!

Step 7.
Take your backing fabric and lay it with the wrong side facing you. Place the batting on top. Then place the top of your table runner with the right side facing you. Pin in many places to help the layers stay flat and together. Now you are ready to quilt the layers together. I used a straight line vertical stitch, the width of my presser foot, across the entire table runner. Trim the excess backing and batting from all sides.

Step 8.
For this step, you may use store-bought double fold bias, or you can make your own! I made my own by cutting a 2″ strip from selvage to selvage. Then I cut one more and sewed the short ends together. Press the strip in half, length-wise. Open up your strip and press the bottom of the strip up toward the crease. Then press the top of the strip up toward the crease. Fold your original crease so that your raw edges are enclosed, and your bias is ready to go!

Step 8.
I am lazy and don’t much like hand-sewing, so I did a cheater method (with a zig-zag stitch) for the binding of this table runner. There is a great tutorial for both the correct way and the cheater way over at MADE.


And…you’re done! This table runner makes a nice little quilting project that you can quickly make with one charm pack.

Related Posts

10 thoughts on “Tutorial: Rainbow Sherbet Table Runner

  1. Bree says:

    Looks great, I love the colors. Those plaids with the flowers on them (can’t remember what they’re called at the moment) are one of my favorites lately.

  2. amylouwho says:

    Totally cute! I love that line of fabric too!

  3. Sadie says:

    Very pretty! A reminder that although today is cold and gray, summer is just around the corner 😀
    Thanks for the tutorial, I’m new to quilting and something like this would be a great project to practice my seam matching on 🙂

  4. Great idea for a charm pack and those colors just scream summer! Lovely!

  5. Manda says:

    Fun and bright!

  6. Kristen says:

    Beautiful! You remind me how gorgeous Meadowsweet is to work with! I need to get my project with that fabric in it!

  7. Beautiful work as always! I love how well you can mix so many prints and it always looks so good.

  8. ~Carla~ says:

    I sooo love this line!! And your table runner shows off the fabrics perfectly!! I found a yard on eBay for a good deal so grabbed it, I’d have been in absolute heaven to win an entire bundle!!

  9. quilary says:

    This is a lovely little table runner. Thanks for sharing your tutorial – I’m sure I have a charm pack hidden away somewhere in the stash!

  10. zubizup says:

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Comments make my day and I love to reply!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.