With Christmas fast approaching (only 11 more sleeps!), many of you will already have your homes decorated and your Christmas trees proudly on display. One thing that might be puzzling you, however, is how to set up your Christmas Day meal - how are you going to decorate the table? A lot of our customers have been visiting our branches looking for inspiration, and many are planning to make table runners. In today's blog, we'll be walking you through how to make your very own table runner (as well as a few optional extras to make yours unique) to use for many years to come. Before You Start:
  • Measure the length of your table and add 0.5 metres to your measurement. For our example, we will be making a table runner for a table measuring 1.5 metres, so our fabric will be 2 metres long.
What You'll Need:
  • Fabric as long as your table + 0.5 metres (we recommend our festive Christmas Fabrics)
  • A cotton reel to match your fabric
  • Optional - embellishments (i.e. tassels, embroidery thread, beads, insertion piping)
  • Optional - table protector as long as your table + 0.5 metres
Step One Decide how wide you would like your table runner to be - we will be making one that is 0.4 metres wide. Cut two strips of fabric to be this wide and as long as your very first measurement. If you plan to do any embroidery on your table runner, it is best to do so now before you start sewing your pieces together. Step Two Put the right sides of your fabric together and after pinning the long edges, sew them. Optionally, you can use insertion piping sandwiched between your edges for extra decoration. If you need your table runner to be heat resistant as well, use a layer of our table protector (cut to the same measurement as your strips of fabric) too. Step Three Turn your newly sewn pieces right side out. Sew the short edges closed (again with insertion piping if you wish) and you will now have your completed table runner! Step Four - OPTIONAL If your table runner still isn't decorated enough for you, consider sewing some tassels or beaded embellishments to the corners for extra dazzle. These will look fantastic when draped over the ends of your table. Have you ever made your own table runner or any other Christmas decorations using our Fabrics and materials? Take a photo and upload it to our Facebook page - we love to see what our customers come up with! Thanks for reading, Until next time, Calico Laine