Table Runner Tutorial

Here is the table runner tutorial that I had promised to post. I used the same fabric I had chosen for the chairs, plus some remnants from my patio slider's curtains (up-cycling is the name of the game in my household). Make sure to check out my chairs upholstering tutorial here.

The process was pretty straight forward, really, and quite simplistic too. I decided how wide I'd like the runner to be and I cut out my fabric allowing for seams.

Here are my two fabrics cut and ready to be sewn. Rufus, as always, is dispensing some much needed advice! ^__^

Given the super thick fabric, from the curtains remnants (as well as the thickness of the new outdoor fabric) I only folded the fabric over once for the hems. To avoid unraveling, I first singed all edges with a zig zag stitch. It's a bit hard to see on this textured fabric...

...but it is clearly visible on the patterned one.

Once all the edges were properly finished, I proceeded to attach the two solid bands to the two narrow ends of the patterned fabric.

I then turned the solid fabric over, and did an invisible stitching to the top, to keep everything neatly in place.

At this point I just proceeded to hem the entire rectangle, which was now longer thanks to the two solid bands at the edges. As I mentioned, I only folded the fabric over one time, this was all my cheapo sewing machine could tolerate (notice that the zig zag is visible, if I had made a traditional hem -folded twice- it would just be hidden).

And that's all folks! Pretty easy. The whole project took me a total of 2 hours. It is a very doable craft for even the most novice sewer, and it does make any chairs reupholstering job look more complete. 

And this is how my dinette looks now. Awwww, much nicer I think.

I am planning to add a band of this patterned print to the sliders panels as well. Just to tie things together a bit more in the kitchen. So I will add the tutorial to the blog when I do. Thank you for reading and happy up-cycling :)