Blue Jean Table Runner Tutorial

You will need:
Lightweight cardboard
Pen
Scissors
Thread
Old Jeans
10 squares of contrasting material.
Sewing Machine.

Start with a circle pattern around 7 inches in diameter. 
I used one of my small plates and it worked fine.
Cut a cardboard pattern
or just trace around the plate.  
You will need 10 of these for the runner.
Trace the circles on the wrong sides of the jeans and cut out.
Hint:  I trace a bunch, cut them into smaller pieces and cut them out in the evenings in front of the TV.

Now this part is a little tricky.
You might need some of your high school geometry skills.
You need a pattern for a square that fits inside of your circle and touches all four corners.
I used my ruler for my rotary cutter and laid it down on my circle pattern
and marked the circle pattern.
Mine worked out to five inches.
This is the end of the math, I promise.
If you have a simple graphics program on your computer, you should be able to make a pattern
from that also. 
and
if you absolutely cannot figure all this out.
email me and I will send you a file of some patterns.
or
if you can figure it out and just don't want to,
email me anyway
and I will send them to you.
Ok, hardest part done.


I like to have a variety of jeans shades and textures.

After they are cut out,
arrange them  into pairs
and trace the square inside one of the circles in each pair.

Pin them right sides together
and sew one edge together
on each pair.


Press open the seams and you should have five pair that look
like this.

The place two pair right sides together and trace a square inside one circle
on one pair so that you have a guideline to go by.
Sew the two pairs together.
You should now have two sets of four
and an extra set of two.


Sew the two sets of four together
and then sew the last set of two onto them.
Press all seams apart
and
you will have
something that looks like this.

Then press in the edges.

I use a little Niagara spray starch to hold them a little better.

Open the flaps and pin the squares inside closing the flaps over top of the fabric.
Back to the machine and zig zag stitch everything.
I find it easier to go down through the center first.
It eliminates a lot of pins and a lot of bulk.

I sew it in this manner,
not so much turning that way.
Here is what the back looks like
at this point.

Zig Zag everything, press it all again,
and you are done!


Just some ideas to think outside the box.
This pillow was made from a pair of khakis.

To match a bedroom.

This is the blanket that I made several years ago.
Don't look too close,
it has been washed and is really starting to fray in some places.

Think tote bags and pillows.
Small t-shirt logos in the middle of the squares.
There are tons of possibilities!

If you make anything from this, I would love to see it.
Send me a pic, leave a  comment with the link, etc.

Comments

Trace4J said…
How cool. Great job. Just love it.
I save and cut up all of hubbies old jeans. Ive stitched snowmen on them and made ornies for all my kids one year.
Love denim.
Hugs Trace

www.grannytracescrapsandsquares.com
Great tutorial Cathy....although I will never probably make one of these...don't think my sewing machine could handle it!
Thanks...
Karen
Thank you so much! It loks so fussy but its really not. I just might be able to make one, lol.
Lesley said…
Looks nice Cathy. I still can't figure where you find all this time to do this. Very attractive pillow, might handle that. LOL
BTW I got mail today....so cute. Thank you very much.
Les
Thanks for sharing Cathy!
A little more than I can handle, Lol! Two thing I want to accomplish, learning to sew beyond basic skills and to get better at crocheting!
frontporchprims said…
You.....are.....amazing. I love this tutorial. I could never make one in a decent amount of time. The khaki
pillow is so cute and feminine. I love that blanket too. Oh how wonderful it all is. WoW. I love the new header too. -Steph-
TheCrankyCrow said…
Yeah sure. Love these - but ain't gonna happen in my lifetime! You probably make childbirth look easy too. ;o) Robin
Thanks for this terrific tutorial! You do make it look easy. I have a stack of patterned, jean, and canvas pants, that'd be great for these projects. Thanks for sharing.
JoAnn
sweetpepperrose.blogspot.com
Paula S said…
I love this... your take on this pattern has been the easy to understand :) but still not forsure if it would give me fits or not... PS lovin your blog. The best I have seen (huh read) in awhile.
www.facebook.com/PaulasPaintin.Primin
Susan in SC said…
Great tutorial! I just made my own table runner using your tutorial You can find it here:
http://mycottagelife.blogspot.com/2012/07/on-table.html

Thanks again!

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