November Ruffle Table Runner

Here's a fun tutorial I did for Thanksgiving/November and shared on Cherished Bliss this past weekend:

Now that Halloween is behind us, I really wanted to update my table runner for November and Thanksgiving. I wanted something that was Thanksgiving inspired but not "in your face" Thanksgiving so I could use it for more things. (I have another turkey table topper coming up next week :-)

What do you think??? I love the burlap inspired, organic cotton I used for the center. I love the texture from the ruffles, and I love, love, love how the painted letters turned out!

It was pretty easy to make but I put together a few steps if you want to make you're own.

First, I used my Silhouette to cut freezer paper and make the template for the word, Thankful. I have to use the card stock settings due to the thick wax on the paper. But it does work.

Then get your fabric prepped. I cut a large rectangle for the center (mine was about 16 inches wide and about 30 inches long). I then cut strips for the border (I did 4 1/2 inches wide) and attached along each side. This is pretty quick.

The runner is now ready to paint on the lettering. Iron on the freezer paper in your desired location. I picked the bottom right hand corner. Iron it on, and then paint it. I used regular craft paint and then sprayed a little bit of sparkle on it. I used a burnt orange and mixed in a little brown.

While this is drying, you can prep your ruffling. I made all three ruffles and left them long, then measured it and cut it. I think it's hard to know exactly how well each fabric will ruffle up. There are a lot of great tutorials on making ruffling, so I'll skip that here. I did finish the edging of the ruffle so it wouldn't fray and also tucked the ends under when I attached each end so there would be no raw seams exposed.

Once your fabric is dry from the paint, find the perfect spot for your ruffles. I chose the left side of the runner. Pin them in place, then sew them down by sewing down the middle of each row.

The top of your runner is now complete. You can now hem the edges and be done, or if you want a little more "poof" in your runner, you can finish it like a quilt. This is what I chose to do. You lay the top of your runner face down against the fabric backing. The pretty sides of both the top and bottom should be facing each other. Then you sew the two pieces together around each side, leaving a whole about 6 inches.

You can now add batting if you'd like. Then flip the batting and the runner inside out through that small whole you left. Use your hand to pop everything out so it's all right sides out. Now iron everything flat. Sew up your hole where you flipped the runner. I also added some top-stitching along the inside of the border to secure my batting in place and make sure if wouldn't move around.
(This is where I sewed up the whole on the side. It's not very noticeable.)
(Here's a close-up of the top-stitching along the inside of the border.)

And Voila... the finished product

Guest Blogging- Cherished Bliss

Hey, go check out my new Thanksgiving Table Runner over on Cherished Bliss today!

More details here tomorrow. Have a great Sunday!

Handmade Gift Exchange Holiday 2011

Are you signed up yet??? Sign ups just opened up over at Craftaholics Anonymous. If you haven't participated before, here's the scoop: You sign up and are given a name of a person you make a craft for. They make a craft for you. You get to meet a cool new crafter somewhere in the world, get to make a cute craft, and receive a cool craft. How fun is that!!

Just shoot Linda an email to sign up. Here's the link. Click on the link that says, Sign Up Form.

Oh, and you don't need to have a blog or an etsy shop or anything. You just have to be able to make 1 craft for someone. That's it. It's so fun. I hope you'll join in!! Happy November!

Thankful (Dry Erase) Place Mats

Happy November 1! Halloween was a blast but I'm excited to move on to Thanksgiving. I just love this holiday and especially all of the meaning behind it. Being thankful is so important, especially teaching this to our children. With that thought in mind, I came up with this fun craft, mostly for my children.

My kids love to draw, and unfortunately, sometimes it's on surfaces that are NOT meant to be drawn on. So, I thought it would be fun to make a place mat for them to use this entire month, that they could draw on to their hearts content!

These Thankful Dry Erase Place Mats are so fun. My kids have already been using them and loving them. They would be great year-round but especially perfect for this month. We will be using them all month long and teaching many lessons during dinner and while their waiting for dinner :-)

If you want to make your own place mats, here's the easy steps:

Supplies:

-Place Mats
-Plastic (you can buy it in big sheets at Walmart)
-Vinyl and cutting machine

I bought my place mats at Target. I wanted something light in color so you would be able to see all of my kids drawing and writing well. I think a light green or orange would be perfect too. You could also make your own place mat to use.

First, I cut my vinyl. I found a fun, kind of kid-ish font. Important step: Make sure you flip your image so it's reversed. You want the vinyl to stick to the plastic, not the fabric, so it will stick really good, and I wanted the vinyl to be sewn on the inside so my kids couldn't' pick it off. So you want the sticky part to be face up. To get this, you have to flip the image before printing. So use, whatever cutter, I used my silhouette to cut out my vinyl.

Next measure your place mat and figure out the area you want covered in plastic. My place mat had a seam bordering it's edge so I used this and just put the plastic in the middle. Cut your plastic so it's 1 large piece covering the area desired. I used a rotary cutter to cut the plastic. It was easier.

Now transfer your vinyl onto your plastic. Face down it should be reversed. Flip over the plastic and it should read perfectly.

Now place your plastic onto your place mat. You can pin it in place but I'd use only a few pins so it won't make a bunch of holes in the plastic. Now, using a coordinating fabric, sew along each side of the plastic.

That's it! Now, just make sure they use dry erase pens to color and you're all set!!

Have Fun!!

Linking Up to:
Cherished Bliss
Running With Glitter
Sugar & Spice