Bias Tape Table Runner

Thanksgiving is right around the corner so it's time to start planning your pretty table, yay!  Here's a tute for a simple reversible table runner using bias tape.

You can change it up and make it your own with different fabrics and bias tapes.  I did a little quilting and used some old burlap coffee sacks for mine, and added some homemade bias tape.

I  made a small one, perfect for piling up the pretty dishes and having a buffet on holiday mornings.

How gorg are those vintage dishes?  They were Carleton's Grandma Jane's wedding dishes, I'm so excited to save them to give to little Scarlet Jane one day.

This is a fun project to customize, much like our Fat Quarter Apron. Get the Bias Tape Table Runner tutorial after the jump...

And remember, any comment you leave this week could win you some bow tie hardware to Make A Bow Tie for the boy in your life!

Reversible Bias Tape Table Runner

You'll need about 4 yards of double fold bias tape (store bought or handmade).  I used this bias tape I made with Tina Givens Opal Owl Grain in Ivory:


And you'll need two 1/2 yards of fabric, you can use two different coordinating or contrasting patterns. I went with Tina Givens Opal Owl Bark in Ivory for one side, a solid taupe for the other, but then I covered up the solid taupe with two burlap coffee sacks.  I picked up the coffee sacks when Jacinda and I were in Minnesota earlier this year, at Dunn Brother's Coffee they give them away for free when they're done with them!  So rad!  I also used 1/2 yard of quilt batting and quilted mine, but if you don't want to quilt then leave out the batting, but then I recommend using 1/2 yard of interfacing to give it some heft.

1.  Create a batting or interfacing sandwich by laying one fabric right side down, then the batting or interfacing, then the second fabric right side up.

If using interfacing, go ahead and iron it on.  If using batting, pin all the way around:


2.  Now sew the three layers together with a straight stitch all the way around.  Remember at the corners to leave your needle in your table runner, life the presser foot, pivot the fabric, then continue to sew to get a nice sharp corner.


3.  Now I quilted all the layers together.  I couldn't find my walking foot, so I just used the regular foot and it worked fine.  I started sewing straight lines 1/4" apart all the way across the table runner.  This took a little bit of time but was superfun, because sometimes it's nice to just sit and machine sew.  here it is halfway through:

The view from the other side.  I used brown thread in the spool and taupe in the bobbin so it would match both sides:

Continued to quilt my straight lines:

Until I got to the end:

So now it looks like this:


4.  Now I could have left it like that and moved on to attaching my bias tape, but I wanted to use these coffee bags, so I trimmed them and aligned them to see how I wanted them to lay out:

Then I sewed them together in the center right sides facing, then unfolded (to get a piece the size of my table runner):

Then i pinned the burlap coffee sack piece onto the taupe side of my table runner with the right side out:

And proceeded to sew it down all the way around the edges.  Once again, this is an extra step that I only did because I wanted the tree side quilted and the burlap side unquilted:


5.  Now trim your edges.  Now it's time to attach the bias tape.  I already did a tutorial on attaching the bias tape to this exact project, so head over to our post How To Sew With Bias Tape to get the rest of the steps!

So do that, then you're done! Toss it on the table and get ready for The Season of Cozy and Thanksgiving!

And reverse it out when you're in the mood...