Using 2-1/2” strips from Charlottesville, I made this beautiful table runner from the book Fresh Fabric Treats and completed it in a day. That included borders, quilting and binding. There was relatively little prep. Every other center strip is gathered to give a look of texture and dimension to the table runner. The center was quilted “in the ditch” and the border was quilted every ½” from the inside of the binding.
The gathers were a bit tricky as I have not done them in years, but after the first one it was easy to understand the process. I found it trouble-free to place a basting stitch just shy of a ¼” so there was ample room to gather the fabric. Here’s my tip for that step: keep the gathers about a ½” – 1” away from the ends. I didn’t and it distorted the center. It was difficult to bring it back into alignment. I love the look and it's so unusual. It's worth the little bit of extra time for the gathers.
Nov 30, 2011 at 12:09 PM Janet, if I had a gathering foot I'd sure try it! It was a bit tedious to do the gathers by hand although the end result was well worth it. I'd definitely try it. You just have to make sure the gathered strips are the same length as the non-gathered strips.
Good luck!
Mari
Nov 28, 2011 at 3:16 PM Oh, so pretty and I love the different textures.
Nov 26, 2011 at 5:19 PM This table runner is on my to do list! It looks great, thanks for sharing.
Nov 25, 2011 at 12:46 PM Would it be possible to use the gathering foot for my Bernina to do the gathered strips, do you think? I can still see that the strip would need to be free of gathers on the ends, but the middle section could be gathered so easily with the aid of that foot, I would think.
Nov 23, 2011 at 3:22 PM Really cute! Especially love the gathered strips.
Nov 23, 2011 at 6:22 AM This is great! I Love the texture too. Great job Mari!