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How To Sew A Table Runner And Recycle Fabric

January 10, 2022 by Courtney 4 Comments

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picture of sewn table runner on table with blue and white plate

I really enjoy recycling and repurposing fabrics from past sewing projects or outgrown or cast off clothing.  In using these left over or found pieces, I am getting something I love that has no extra cost.  So in this post on how I sew a table runner, I did this very thing!  I am refreshing my home with some new items, and this feels like a good time to sew a table runner. We are indoors more in this season of winter so why not try to enjoy our surroundings all the more!

A lot happens at our table each day. We eat our meals there, we homeschool there. We play games on our family table.

The dining room table is a central meeting place in our home. So, at the end of each day I like to bring that space back to neutral and make it pretty and pleasing to my eyes.

I like to beautify my dining room by draping a ruffled table runner across it. I love the sumptuous, frivolous nature of ruffles! We just fold it up and move it when the table needs to be cleared for an activity or meal.

When I Am Feeling Creative

It never fails, a sumptuous picture from a design book like Country Brocante Style by Lucy Haywood gives me the NEED to sew! I search my fabric stash and find odd sized pieces of much loved fabric.

Being more organized about my household sewing projects would be smart: Choose a project, write a list of all the necessary fabrics and notions, search the internet for the perfect fabric for my project.

While searching, I found a piece of white linen that I had left over from a tank top I had made myself. I am always drawn to linen fabric for household projects and clothing too.

It had some fairly large sections, but tricky diagonal edges. So I sewed the larger parts together to make a larger piece of fabric.

Items To Sew a Table Runner:

  • Fabric you have gathered from your stash, or clothing you can repurpose
  • sewing machine ( I use this one )
  • fabric scissors
  • pins and pin cushion
  • iron and ironing surface

The main fabric I started with had a large section cut out of it. It had these two diagonal cuts out of it.

First, I pinned the diagonal edges together and sewed the seam.

picture of triangle of fabric pinned together on a floral background
picture of white fabric sewn together purple fabric in background

Then, I used the zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine to sew along the raw edge of my seam. This keeps it from fraying.

picture of white fabric sewn together

Next, I pressed with a hot iron and I had this square with a bias seam after I had sewn the two halves together.

picture of uneven edge of white fabric

I was left with an uneven edge on the other end of my piece of fabric, so I cut off the extra to make my linen for the table runner more of a square.

So, whatever unusual shaped pieces you have cut them down or piece them into squares and rectangles, to make it easier to sew a table runner.

My next step was to take the square and line up two sides together and press along the fold to form a crease. Cut along the crease to make two equal rectangles.

picture pf rectangle of white fabric sewn together for a table runner

I then lined up the two short edges and pinned them together.

picture of ends of rectangles being sewn together to form a table runner

Next, I sewed the seam and just pressed the seam open, because it had a very pretty selvedge and was already nice and neat.

image of white fabric sewn together and seam ironed open and showing a selvedge edge for table runner

Making The Ruffle on The Table Runner

Happily, when searching my fabric stash, I found an old linen curtain I had saved. This could be recycled and repurposed fabric. It had a section that was stained and there were some holes on it, but it was easy to cut away these flaws.

I measured the diameter of my table runner, it was 170 inches. An attractive ruffle will be 1 1/2 times the length of the area it is to go around.

So, I cut strips to measure 255 inches long . They were 5 inches wide to allow for a 1″ hem.

picture of hem of recycled fabric being made into a table runner

I made use of the hem of the curtain and cut one of the strips four inches wide.

My next step was to sew all the strips of fabric together into one long strip, making sure the hem I utilized would be right side facing outwards.

picture of ends of fabric pinned together there is a white and pink pin cushion also

Also, I zig zag stitched the edge of the seams.

picture of strip of white linen fabric with a zig zag edge

After that, I pressed the seams nice and flat with an iron.

Then I was left with a very long strip of linen perfect for the ruffle on my table runner.

silver sea shell dish holding long strip of fabric

Next, I made the rest of the hem by pressing over the edge half an inch, the whole length. Then, I pressed the edge over again half an inch to enclose the raw edge.

picture of white fabric edge pinned  against purple flower background and a white and pink pincushion

Now Gathering The Ruffle

On my sewing machine, I set the width to 1 and stitch length to 4. I set my tension to between 0 and 1, and it was set on a straight stitch.

Once everything was set, I stitched about 1/2 inch from the edge the whole length of the fabric strip without backstitching at the ends,

This gave me a very loose line of thread to gather up the fabric edge.

picture of gathered fabric with purple flowered background

Next, I started pulling the bobbin thread very carefully (so it wouldn’t tear), to cause the edge to gather.

I did the same thing on the other end and started to gather a little on each end, until it looked like it would fit around the table runner.

This step took some patience. I went back and forth between pulling the gathers and checking it against the table runner. I evened out the gathers so they looked relatively uniform.

picture of white fabric strip gathered to sew onto table runner

Once I had the fabric strip gathered to the correct length, I evened out the gathers as well as I could.

After that, I pinned the two short ends of the ruffle together right sides facing, then sewed a 1/2 inch seam. I zig sagged the edge and pressed the seam flat.

image of gathered strip pinned to edge of project

The next step was to pin the ruffle to the table runner, right sides together all around the edge, easing the ruffle around the corners.

picture of fabric pinned around a corner of fabric for table runner

Once it was pinned, I sewed the seam with 1/2 inch seam allowance. I was careful to keep the raw edge from creeping into the seam.

picture of sewing machine sewing the seam around a corner of the project

I finished the seam with a zig zag stitch.

image of sewing machine finishing edge with zig zag stitch

Finally! I pressed my table runner very well, paying extra attention to the ruffles.

I stood back and admired my lovely table runner!

picture showing completed sewn white linen table runner with ruffles

If you would like a quick, easy sewing project, check out this post on Sewing Beautiful Fabric Napkins .

What fabric have you repurposed or pieced together for a sewing project? Please tell me in the comments below!

Filed Under: Sewing Tagged With: linen, repurpose, sewing

Previous Post: « How To Sew Beautiful Fabric Napkins
Next Post: The Best and Easiest Pumpkin Custard »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marta

    July 19, 2022 at 12:38 am

    Lovely project, thanks for sharing 😉

    Reply
    • therosemarywreath

      July 19, 2022 at 12:41 am

      You are welcome!

      Reply
  2. Charlene

    July 22, 2022 at 12:46 am

    What a great idea! My aunty made me homemade sheets that have been so special to me, but it’s so old that it’s ripped everywhere. Now.. I may just have found a solution for it! 😍

    Reply
    • therosemarywreath

      July 22, 2022 at 10:40 am

      I am so happy this has been helpful. I love that your aunty sewed you sheets! That is a treasure worth saving!

      Reply

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Hi, my name is Courtney. It is my passion to preserve beauty and goodness in my  home, and to make it a place of comfort and love. Please join me each week as I keep a remembrance of the pleasures of homemaking! Read more about me here.

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