a kitchen table update!

Here's a little kitchen table beautification project that made my dad giggle a bit... I told him about this sweet little table runner made of burlap and satin and very politely he asked me, "don't you realize those two don't go together?" 

Dad. Seriously... its called shabby chic. I got to catch him up on the times...

Anyways... you will need to first measure out your table. I have a 48" round pedastal table so I made my runner about 54" long. Of course it's up to the look that you are going for. I had a piece of burlap that was 54" by 8" wide, 1" wide satin, and scraps of stripe, lemon and chocolate printed fabric.

The next part is the best... You will make rectangles of varying lengths and about 4" wide. Sew the short ends together to make a a long strip of alternating patterns (you could of course do one long strip of a particular pattern).

Next, take your 1" piece of satin and iron in half lengthwise to create a crease.

We are now going to make the edging around the burlap in the runner. Line up the burlap and the long strip of printed fabric right side together. Place the 1" satin in the middle of the two with all the unfinished edges lined up- the folded part of the satin will be hidden under the top layer of fabric.

Here's another view... Sew along the edge, checking periodically that you are sewing through all three layers with a consistently straight seam that's about 1/4" from the unfinished edge.

Repeat for the other side... 

Now, since I felt my burlap was kinda plain just laying in the middle, I decided to add a pleat down the center. Using a tape measure, equally fold in the pleats on either side of the center of the burlap. Mine were about 1.5" from the pleat to the satin. Pin and sew along the pleat.

I then added a burlap edge to my runner using the same technique above. I cut a piece of fabric the total size of the runner and place right side together with the patchwork top of the runner. A long 1" wide piece of burlap was folded and placed in between the two layers. I pinned and sewed almost completely around the entire runner. I left a 4" hole to flip my runner right side out.

Once right side out, I checked all my seams and finished the open hole with a top stitch. I didn't end up adding the lace to the end of my runner, but I definitely could have. Also, to help the runner's edges lay flat you could sew a top stitch all the way around the runner... but it wasn't necessary for mine.

There you have it... a shabby little table runner out of burlap and satin!

Sew. Sweet.