This weekend we had SO many different gatherings that we attended. It can be nice to feel so very loved when you are invited out a lot...but also, it's exhausting and pocket draining. One of the things I had going on this weekend was a low key casual baby shower for a girlfriend of mine which we hosted at a restaurant. It was easy and no fuss, which is what she wanted since this is her third child. More like a night out to celebrate and pamper her. I was tasked with coming up with a cute table runner for her that she could take home and use at her house....and a few other little table decorations.
I'm going to show you how I made the table runner today. I seriously have this down to an art. We do a lot of baby showers in my social circle and I've made a lot of table runners. It is so simple to get all of you measurements even and correct if you follow these steps.
I started out with 1 yard of fabric. I got this pretty blue print at Hobby Lobby. I knew that another friend of mine was bringing flowers that would be in lemons and limes.....that's all the color scheme we had to go with. That and the mother to be said she "liked blue". She told me that she liked my style and to just choose for her (made it hard for me, I tell ya)
The first thing I did was to fold it into thirds. You just fold one side over to where it looks like the edge is directly in the middle of the visible plane of fabric you are looking at.
Then I just folded it over again so it's folded in three even sections.
Next I cut along the fold on each side.
Now, this isn't precise, so you will have to measure the width of all three pieces you wind up with to see how wide you are going to make your runner.
My skinniest piece was 14.5 across, so I decided that I wanted my runner to be 13.5 across. Taking off half an inch for each side's seam allowance.
Now, you don't want to just go along and hem a half inch in on each side. This would result in a wavy edge and the width of your runner wouldn't be even all the way down, since you didn't go through the annoying painstaking process of perfectly measuring your three pieces in the beginning. So what we do, here is much easier. You fold your piece of fabric in half lenghwise and measure out from the middle. I want my runner to be 13.5 inches, so we measure 6.75 inches from the center and then mark it. Do that every so often along the length of the fabric.....then flip it over and do the other side.....then repeat for your other three pieces. It goes really fast. I know it sounds tedious, but it wasn't so bad at all.
Once you have it all marked, you put two pieces together with right sides together.
You need to line up the marks on each side. If you measured correctly, they should perfectly match up, while the cut edge of your fabric won't match up.
Next, sew your pieces, right sides together, end to end. Normally, I'd say make sure to match up your pattern while doing this, but in this case, I was lazy and didn't do it. I think I was able to get away with it because it was a busy pattern. It is always better to match up the pattern, though....and I usually do.
See, you can't really see the seam that bad on this fabric.
once you sew all three pieces together, you will have a very long stretch of fabric.
Here is where you will need to decide how long you need your runner to be. I decided to go with the full length I could get, because I knew we were going to a restaurant and would probably have a really long table. If you have a table to measure, I suggest laying it out on your table and seeing how long you want it, and then trimming accordingly.
Next, you iron the seams you just created. Open them and iron them flat.
My ironing board is so gross....sorry. (maybe I should DIY one....hmmm..)
A flattened seam makes the finished product look so much more professional. Don't skip this step.
Next it is time to sew the sides. You go back and find your marks and fold on the marks. You can put pins in it all the way down, if that's the way you like to do it, or you can do like me and just move one pin down a bit as you go. I also made sure to keep the edge of my presser foot at the edge of the hemmed side of the fabric, so that my seam would be a nice and even distance from the finished edge all the way down.
note....I chose not to do a "finished hem" on the sides (which would be folding it over twice so that the raw edge is hidden). I hate having a table runner with a lump on the side where the seam is, so I went this route to keep it nice and flat.
finished edges
For the top edge, I started by folding and pinning the corners in. Make sure you pin at the bottom of your little triangle, so the pin doesn't get in the way as you fold.
Fold the top halfway down the triangles, and then fold over again (to hide the raw edge) so that the triangles are all of the way folded over as you see below.
Pin in place.
Sew the whole thing down, and then come up the edges a little bit along the folded triangle part. Don't forget to back-stitch at the beginning and end of your seam.
Press all of your seams and then give your runner a good ironing.
There you have it! A perfect table runner....well, except that this one is waaay too long for my table. :)
Some shots of the baby shower....
I made the "C" (I'll do another post on that) and another friend did flowers and another did the diaper cake
I'm a dork
These had cupcakes in them. My amazing friend made them and made the boxes. She's awesome, I tell ya.
Love these girls. Hope nobody minds their picture on here....I'll take it off if you do, just let me know. It's just such a great shot!
the "C" on the candlestick are from my house. see it here
It turned out really pretty. The waitress said she had never seen a cuter baby shower at a restaurant before. The lighting was crazy in there. All of the stuff that is blue looked green. I tried to fix it, but the pictures still came out crazy.
Hope you all have a great day.
xoxo!
Anna
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