The Turner Page: It's a Table Runner!

On of our 3 DIY projects last weekend was a table runner. A while back I was inspired by this table runner from Z Gallerie.

I loved the idea of a black and white table runner. I thought it would add some nice dimension to my lacking dining space. I wanted a table runner with a black center and a black and white patterned border. So I went on the hunt for a tutorial. I came up with this tutorial. Only I didn't want a pointed end and I certainly didn't want to turn it into a gift bag! LOL!

So here's what we did....

I decided I wanted the center to be 8.5" wide and the borders to be 3.5" wide. When allowing for 1/2" seams the center black fabric needed to be 9.5" and the borders needed to each be 4" wide. However, the patterned fabric wraps around the back of the runner so I needed to add another 15.5" (which is what the ending width of the runner comes out to be (adding 8.5+3.5+3.5)). Here is a sketch we did when figuring this all out.

When all said and done, the patterned fabric was 23.5" (4+4+15.5).

At this point we just placed the fabric right sides together and sewed the 2 seams.

(Let me stop to tell you now, you can make the length whatever you need. In my case, my table is 60.5" long but it also has a 18" wide leaf that I put in as needed. So I found a good balance of adding extra length so the runner would be close to the edge when the leaf was in but not too long that it hangs down really far when the leaf was out. I added 7" on each side. So that totaled 74.5" then I allowed for a 1" seam on each side. Therefore I cut my fabric to 76.5")

This made a long tube. We pressed the seams with an iron and then turned the fabric right sides out. Then we measured down the length of the runner to make sure the border was even on both sides and we ironed the edges to make a good crease.

For the ends... they were folded in twice and then a seam was sewn across.

I've never typed up a tutorial, so if that was confusing or you have questions, please leave a comment!

Here is the finished product! I was SO pleased with it!

But of course it was missing one thing... flowers in the vase! Well, Michaels was having a 40% off sale on their flowers.. Perfect! Here's the arrangement I put together.