Stripe Runner Tutorial

Several years ago I saw a magazine that used a border stripe to make a cute table runner. I still have that magazine somewhere but 2 houses and 4 or 5 years later makes it really hard to remember which one it is and where to look for it. So, going off memory and good guesses I've been making them since last fall. I've shown lots of different ones on this blog and I still have several pieces of stripe fabric left to make more. I was asked how I made these and my written explanation with out pictures was less than helpful. This is not a "cut this size and sew this way" tutorial, this is more like a "point me in the right direction" tutorial and I hope it helps!

This is the fabric i'm using in its uncut state(Hobby Lobby Easter rack).

This is after the first cut was made. One complete repeat of the fabric. This fabric was printed with the stripe running width of fabric so it limited how large the runner could be, if the print ran the other way you could make a really big runner! I cut 3 repeats so that i had 2 for the sides and the 3rd to make the ends of the runner.

Using a 60 degree triangle or the 60 degree line on your regular ruler, cut 4 triangles for the ends and angle the long pieces to match.

This is the pieces laid out before sewing.

Here's the top half sewn together. If you sew 2 triangles to the long piece you dont have to use set in seams.

And here is the completed top! This top took me less than an hour to assemble and press. Usually when I quilt these I stitch in the ditch and then I follow any obvious lines around. In this case, I'll quilt along the edge of the green/pink line, on both sides of the yellow line and probably on the outside of the last orange stripe.

These are leftover bits cut off from the pieces i cut off to make the 60 degree angles on the big runner. This ends up being a great size for a candle mat or centerpiece. It needs a good pressing but you still get the general idea.