Wedding Wednesday – DIY Table Runners

Next up on my DIY wedding agenda: table covers. Earlier in the year, I found some big rolls of brown contractor's paper at Lowe's. I thought they'd be perfect for wrapping the tables and would look kind of crafty. So instead of renting tablecloths, I decided to make runners as a way to bring in a bit of color and fabric.

When we went to visit the barn and take measurements, we determined that the room is long enough to do 2 rows of rectangular tables placed end to end. It will be like 2 loooooong tables. Kind of like this (but not as glitzy):

(source)

I wasn't sure exactly what kind of fabric I wanted, but I did have some specifications:

• small print
• preferably vintage-y
• bright colors with not too much white
• absolutely no butterflies
• will look good against the brown paper
• at least 13 yds available
• on sale

After pouring over everything in several fabric stores, I was having a hard time pulling the trigger. Spending $60+ on fabric will do that to a girl. I finally dragged Katie along with me, and we chose this adorable print with tiny turquoise circles, small pink and red flowers, and a few green leaves. (Hanging Gardens by M'Liss)

It was priced at $8.99 per yard, but they were running a 50% off sale on all cottons. Which was good because we bought 13 yards of it! Our total came in just over $60, after tax.

We needed a total of about 115 feet of fabric for the tables. I thought if I cut the fabric into thirds length-wise, I could piece them together end-to-end to get to that length. I decided to make the runners 12.5 inches wide (mainly because I have a 12.5 inch quilting square that made measuring easier.) The fabric is 43 inches wide, so I had a 5.5 inch strip extra...which was easily measured using another quilting template. (Don't worry, I have plans for it.) I'm starting to see why quilting materials are such sizes!

I used a pen with disappearing ink to mark where I needed to cut.

And then I cut the fabric using pinking sheers so I wouldn't have to hem it. (Pinking sheers cut in a zigzag pattern to the fabric doesn't fray.)

Cutting took much longer than I expected. Since I was using pinking sheers, I had to open and close the scissors to make each cut - as opposed to being to slide regular scissors down the fabric. And once I realized I had to cut the 13 yards of fabric 4 times, I calculated that I was making over 50 yards of cuts. Yowsa! My fingers got really sore so I had to use some padding where the scissors began to rub.

Much better.

Here's the fabric next to the paper we'll use to wrap the tables.

I'm hoping to set up a table at home to see it all put together. I think it'll look great!