Make-it-Monday: Making a Table Runner

Guys, I'm the worst - I've had a button on the right sidebar for weeks, but I haven't yet mentioned what it's for. You know the one I'm talking about? This one?

Click on that button, and you'll see ALL the blogs featured in the Totally Awesome Blog Hop. I'm one of them - number 83! A lucky octogenarian. Now pretend I announced this weeks ago, click on that button, and support some other blogs. Thnx.

How did y'all like the Oscars last night? I was less than impressed - especially with the opening number. Seth MacFarlane has a beautiful voice,but the structure was a mess. The meta, "your jokes suck!" thing didn't play for me at all. The boobs song? Awesome. Flight sock puppets? Perfect. But watering them down with the framing device was a boring and took the fun right out of them. If you want Seth MacFarlane to host your show, let him be an ass. If you want someone who's gonna be nice, get Hugh Jackman.

Actually, just get Hugh to do it regardless - he's a killer host. Remember this?

The Reader song gets me every. single. time.

Now, about today's craft:

Two months ago, I bought a two yards of fabric at JoAnn's. A month ago, I set up my sewing machine. Yesterday, I used the two in conjunction to create a table runner.

We have a great dining room table. My roommate's parents have loaned it to us - it was a wedding present, and functioned as their main dining table for years. Now, they're letting Roomie, Very Excellent Boyfriend and I use it while we play house. 

Domestic bliss.

I'm pretty proud of our dining area - it's small (and usually much dirtier than it is in that picture), but for the three of us (four, including Roomie's Boy Toy), it's perfect. Still, it's always felt incomplete. We've contemplated a table runner, and when I ran across this fabric, I figured I'd give it a go.

Isn't it lovely? The pattern is what sold me. When I bought it, I wasn't quite sure if it would match our design scheme, but it actually looks great. We accidentally fell into a blue/green color palate with the kitchen, and I like how it extends into the dining room. That wasn't the initial plan (we'd contemplated a purple or gold accent wall when we moved in), but it sure is nice. 

If you're going to make a table runner the way I did, here are your steps:

1. Cut off a section of fabric about 1 inch wider than you want your table runner to be. 
2. Iron the heck out of it. 
3. Iron 1/2-inch seams into the sides (see, that's why you made it a little too wide)

1. Sew down the first side seam. 
2. Start do do the second side, and then panic because this happens:

How in the...???

1. Get really pissed, but take a deep breath, remove the bobbin, cut away all the lose thread, and try again.
2. Repeat steps 5 and 6 three more times. 
3. Throw your hands in the air, storm away, eat a tortilla pizza, and drink a glass of wine.
4. Google "what on earth is wring with my sewing machine?"
5. Flip the bobbin around in its casing.

1. It works!
2. Sew second seam. 
3. Decorate your table!

Fruit optional. And delicious.

In case y'all didn't know, sewing machines...are machines. If something simple is off, the whole thing shuts down. I have a feeling that over the next few months I'm going to learn exactly how easy it is to mess-up a sewing project. Thank goodness for the internet - otherwise I'd still be flummoxed.