Sewing – Crafty Bridge

Post from October 8, 2014

I am so excited to share this post with you guys… this was my FIRST TIME quilting. Gotta tell ya, I was super intimidated. In fact, I was considering taking a class before even attempting to quilt… I mean, this is the major leagues of sewing, right? Well, that’s what I thought, anyways. Turns out, it’s not that hard.

I found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest for different styles of table runners, but I decided to start simple and go with strips. I tend to gravitate towards simpler design choices anyways, so I knew I wouldn’t mind looking at it for a long time.

One of my favorite parts of making this table runner? Coordinating fabrics! I literally filled an entire cart full of bolts of fabric trying to find my favorites to put together. You don’t need a ton of fabric, but a good variety makes it more interesting.

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Halloween Quilted Table Runner

What You Will Need:
– Fabric: use this as a stash buster, or go to the store and find 5-6 coordinating fabrics (or just fabrics you like together – be creative). You don’t need much; maybe a 3/8 yard each and you’ll have some left over.
– Fabric for the back of the runner 1 yard
– Batting: I used Pellon Fusible Fleece 987F – I had some already, but use whatever you prefer, just not anything too heavy.
– Quilt Binding
– The Usual Suspects: thread in a coordinating color, sewing machine, iron

1. First things first: clean up your fabric, cut off the selvedge, press. I don’t bother pre-washing my fabrics.

2. Cut strips of your different fabrics. Make them all the same length, but vary the width for each strip. I chose to make my runner 20” wide. Length depends on your table and preference.

3. Organize your strips by laying them out and picking an order that you like. Once you like your layout, stack the fabric strips, keeping the order that you want them sewn.

4. Start sewing! With right sides together, line up one edge of these strips and sew a 1/4” seam.

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5. Press open the seam.

6. Now add on to your sewn strips with another strip and keep going in that order – sew, press seam open, sew, press seam open. I sewed half of the runner at a time so it was easier to manage with the sewing machine – less bulk to move around. Then I sewed the two halves together when I finished both.

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7. Cut your back fabric to match your runner length and width, as well as your batting. Make a batting sandwich. Pin together.

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8. Press your batting sandwich.

9. Starting in the middle of your runner, start quilting. This is a ton of fun. You can do anything you want, but I did parallel seams and made them totally random. This is my favorite part. All of a sudden, it seriously looks professional and finished. It like, transforms… I’m not even kidding.

10. Press your table runner. Clean up your edges so they are squared and clean. Pin on your binding. Don’t forget to miter your corners. I also sewed the two ends of my binding together and pressed open the seam for a clean finish.

11. Sew your binding in place. DONE!

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Jump up and down and celebrate and show everyone on Facebook and Instagram how awesome you are. 🙂

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Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers,
Bridget
XOXO

October 29, 2016November 2, 2016 by craftybridge Categories: FALLTags: FALL, Halloween, Sewing Leave a comment

img_20161018_131850 — I think Pumpkin steals the show. But try not to stare at the coffee cup stain.

Fall is a special time of year; a time where I can let my ‘basic’ freak flag fly. Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I mean.
[cough * pumpkinspiceflannelshirtsandbeanboots * cough]
I digress. Fall is wonderful. This time of year means slowing down, turning indoors, and spending more (but not too much) time with family. Shorter days give us excuses to do things inside – like the cooking and crafting we neglected all Summer for fun in the sun.

So in the spirit of Fall, I figured it was high time I spiced (no pun intended) up my living room. Summer has left this room neglected, barren and devoid of all effort. I’m OK with that. But now that I actually have to look at it more, I need to fix it.

Cue easiest fix ever: Pillow covers. I have made dozens of these. I have a number of plain white down pillows that I keep swapping covers out on and they couldn’t be easier to customize. Plus, a yard and a half of fabric will get you 3 cases – so you’re literally only paying a couple bucks per pillow cover. Try finding that at Homegoods.

Here’s how to make them:

Envelope Pillow Cover

You will need:

Pillow
Enough fabric to wrap around pillow – approximately half yard for 18x18in pillow
The usual suspects: thread, pins, sewing machine

Step 1: Wrap fabric around pillow to fit. (alternately you can use an old pillow cover as a template) Make sure you leave enough fabric to overlap 3-5 inches. This will make sure your pillow stays tucked in. Cut your fabric. You will only need one long piece – that’s the beauty of this pillow cover.

Step 2: Finish short ends of fabric with a roll seam. Essentially, fold edge over 1/4 inch, then fold in once more so that raw edge is tucked in and not exposed. This will prevent fraying. Sew with 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Step 3: Wrap cover around pillow with wrong side out. Pin ends where you want them – I like mine a little snug. Slide pillow out.

Step 4: Pin and sew two open ends closed (with pillow cover still inside out) with straight stitch. Then, serge stitch the edge. This will keep edges from fraying.