No-sew table runner tutorial

Fall is slowly sliding into winter, and with this change comes a boat-load of holidays that encourage us to gather our loved ones around a table piled high with food and be grateful. I usually set the table runner up on the table with the booze and glasses because the table is tiny and the people are many, but for illustrative purposes we're using the dining room table. 

This table runner is super fun, super easy, and can be done in about 15 minutes. Also, you can include the kids in this one. They love leaf-hunting and crayon-rubbing.

Supplies:
An Iron & Ironing board
Neutral-colored cloth, preferably cotton.
Leaves: 3-5 of different sizes or from different trees
Crayons

Step one: figure out how long you want your table runner to be, and cut that size out of your fabric.

 I usually lay the fabric on the table, and then fold the cloth until it's a size that I like. Generally, you'll want it to be 1/3 the width of your table. Length-wise you can have it go to the ends of the table, hang over the edge of the table, or have it stop about 12 inches from the edge. I like mine short because then you can seat people at the ends of the table and then I don't have to worry about kids pulling it, and everything else, off of the table (I learned that one the hard way).

Step two: flip your fabric upside down, and fold each side in a 1/2 inch. Press with an iron. If you want to keep your runner forever and ever, I would buy some fusible seam tape and iron your seams together that way.

Step three: Get out your crayons. Confession: I keep a bag of busted crayons for rubbing projects. The colors are up to you. You can match your dishes, use autumnal tones, or go mod with black and grey.

Step four: Place a leaf, vein-side up, under your fabric

Step five: turn your crayon on it's side and rub on top of the leaf. Use the fingers of your opposite hand to hold the fabric down flat while you rub.

Step six: Place leaves under the fabric, one at a time. For the best results, overlap them, turn them in different directions, and alternate colors.

Step seven: place your finished runner on your table with your upcycled tin can luminaries and some flowers or a bowl of fruit.

To attach ribbon to the luminaries, use scotch tape.

That's it! 

You can wash your table runner in COLD water, and then hang it up to dry.

Your opinions, please:

The photos from this post were taken with my IPhone. I think I'll need to edit the next batch first, yeah?