Believe it or not, our house is done in pretty neutral colors. I think folks expect me to have a house covered in amazing fabric, but the truth is, I work with color all day every day, and the neutrals are a relief. They give my brain a little respite and some time to process all the ideas that are birthed from looking at color and pattern all day long. Plus, my husband is a little averse to bold color in the common areas–he embraces it fully in personal space, thank goodness, or I’m not sure we’d’ve made it all the way to the altar, but that’s a story for another time.
Given this predilection toward more serene decorating, I was a little concerned that this particular charm pack project wouldn’t appeal to me in its finished state. In fact, I was strongly tempted to make the whole thing with one colorway only, to tone down some of the boldness a bit. In the end, I wanted to use a single charm pack rather than two, and I chose to trust Anna Maria’s design sense to give me a finished result where the disparate colors and elements worked to create a harmonious whole.
Boy, did they ever. I freakin’ LOVE the result here, and am thrilled and get little butterflies every time I look at it.
The table runner is made with a single Good Folks charm pack, available in the Whipstitch Etsy shop. Incredibly simple pattern:
- select the charm pack you’d like to use–nothing says it has to all be from one collection, but I really, really love the results with this one.
- determine the length of your finished table runner. I knew I didn’t want to have the runner hanging over the ends of the table, so it’s intended to stop just short.
- arrange your charm squares into a pleasing pattern. I wanted to ensure that the Adriatic and Byzantine colorways of Anna Maria’s collection were more-or-less evenly spread out, so I opted to alternate the deeper blues and greys with the bright, bold pinks and golds throughout the runner.
- stitch rows of charms along the SHORT edge of the runner. In this case, I stitched 16 rows of 3 charm squares.
- stitch the short rows together along one edge, paying attention to your pattern
I knew I didn’t want to quilt this table runner, but I also knew it needed some element to take it from humdrum to really special. I opted for a piped edge, using the Small Gathering in citrus fabric to make continuous bias tape to wrap the piping. I love that all the Small Gathering prints from this collection seem like a totally different fabric in various spots, and am super pleased with how this turned out as bias tape.
Piping made the corners look especially inviting, too.
The whole thing is backed by a length of Filigree in sun, meaning that in theory, the whole thing is reversible.
But really, why would I ever want to turn it over??
The babies love it, too. Although, I did almost lose my mind when middle child used it as a tissue for her runny nose. Oy!
- one charm pack of at least 40 squares
- 1/8″ piping cording
- fat quarter of fabric to make bias tape to cover the piping
- 1/2 yd of fabric for the backing
Courtney
March 9, 2009 at 8:00 amLooks great! And I’ll bet it looks great in your house–I too use mostly neutrals but love a pop of color, especially on a dining table. Yesterday I got out the charm pack I got from you to do some appliques, but alas, the beautiful weather called me outside and I didn’t get very far.