Monday, June 25, 2012

Tropical Table Runner

Finished Table Runner and Machine Binding Maiden Voyage

I finished up my sister-in-law's birthday present, and I'm really happy with how it turned out! She loves all things tropical, and I hope I've captured that here. I used Amy's easy table runner tutorial, which is, as the name implies, very easy.



As I mentioned when I bought the fabrics, I'm not a huge batik person. But I really love the backing fabric I chose. I might even like the back more than I like the front!


My strips are (somewhat) randomly sized: I used 1.5", 2", and 2.5" strips and just cut a few of each size out of each fabric. This is a quilt-as-you-go project, so the lines on the back of the runner aren't evenly spaced (they could be though, if you chose to use strips of the same size). I added some additional quilting, just eyeballing it every inch or so. So some strips on the front ended up with two or three quilting lines, and some only one. You can see how it looks on the back too.



Always remember to photograph quilting projects in their natural habitat.

This was also my first attempt at machine binding. It was nice to try that on a smaller quilt to see how I liked it. However, it didn't go perfectly:

Some puckering! Some unevenness! Oh my!

So here's what I learned about machine binding (I used Amy's tutorial for that too).

1. I HATE invisible thread. I didn't know where the stitching would end up on the backside, so I got some invisible thread to use in the bobbin. That... didn't work. At all. I couldn't even get the bobbin to wind. I don't know if it was the kind of thread I got, or my old machine, or just something I did wrong, but it was a disaster. It just kept breaking when I tried to wind it. So I cut my losses and decided to just use white thread. It does show--quite a bit--but I decided to just consider it "bonus quilting."

Has anyone had any success with invisible thread, or is it just not worth the hassle?

2. The binding ends up being very uneven (skinny on the back and wide on the front). This could be solved by not pulling it so tightly around from the back, and in the future, I would probably do that, because I'd like just a little more binding on the back than I ended up with. The nice thing about the unevenness is that I knew I wasn't going to have stitches showing up in my binding on the backside. The downside then, is that the stitching on the back is pretty far away from the binding on the back. (You can see that in close-up of the back, above.)

3. I will probably continue to hand bind my more meaningful quilts (baby quilts, wedding quilts, etc.) I just like the look better. However, this is a great technique to have in my back pocket, and I'd never hesitate to use it for a wall hanging, table runner, or other small project. It's even good to have on hand if I'm ever short on time for a "meaningful" quilt-- this is certainly MUCH faster than hand binding!

So, a cute birthday gift for my sister-in-law and a good learning experience with a new technique for me. I hope she likes it!

Linked up at Canoe Ridge Sew Modern Monday and Plum & June's Get Acquainted Link Up.

Jam Session

On Saturday, I spent the afternoon (too gorgeous to be inside, I regret to say! But so it goes.) making this:

Heavenly!

...into this:

One batch strawberry, one batch triple berry.

You really haven't lived until you've undertaken a canning project in an apartment kitchen.


The blood of many berries was shed.

Thankfully, I had great help:


This thing really is great though. If you are ever making jam or eat a lot of strawberries, it is well worth the money. There are cheaper ones out there, and I used to have one before my mom got me this one, and they do not work. This one, however, does. It takes out only the minimum of the actual fruit, it's easy to dispose of the top once you cut it out, and in short, it's just a great tool. I happened to see that it's featured in Cook's Illustrated this month too, and they say it's great for tomatoes as well. But I hate tomatoes, so I wouldn't know. :)



Now Playing


We're always looking for ways to freshen up our playlists, right? I've decided to feature a few songs from time to time, just for fun.* :) I was feeling pretty uptempo today.

1. Origins-- Tennis
2. MoneyGrabber-- Fitz and the Tantrums
3. New in Town-- Little Boots

*Note: I am really not a lyrics person, and enjoy songs even without knowing what they're saying (sometimes more when I don't!) As a result, some of these may have questionable thematic content. Listen at your own risk.

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20 comments:

  1. What a beautiful table runner. I rarely hand sew my binding and never use invisible thread. I just take my chances because I am not patient. Your jam looks delicious. I made freezer jam from my strawberries the other day. Might try that hulling tool....

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    1. It is a miracle little tool! Kind of expensive for such a little thing, but it seems to be of good quality and it works so well. I'd rationalize it by saying that you're saving so much more of the fruit than you would be using a paring knife, that eventually you'll save back the money. ;)

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  2. Your table runner definitely says tropical - I love the colors! Bright and happy. :) I've had the same problems with machine binding in the past. I'm getting better at it.. it takes a little practice. I have to pay attention to the distance I'm sewing the binding on from the edge of the quilt, as well as knowing how wide to cut the binding to begin with. It's easy to sew the binding on too close or far way from the edge and then not have enough to pull over to the front, or having too much and then your stitching shows up on the back. Pff!

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    1. Yeah, I think I'll definitely give it another go. All in all, I was pretty happy with it for my first time! I know now that I didn't really have to stretch the binding around tightly. I could have relaxed it a little bit before stitching. Oh well. :) I do think that in this case, the wide binding looks nice on the front--kind of anchors all of that color and pattern! This is what I tell myself anyway. :P

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  3. Ooh your table runner looks lovely. I"m not a batiks gal either but I love that fabric on the back - gorgeous!

    I machine sew my bindings too - definitely nowhere near perfect but I've learned to live with it haha!

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    1. Thank you! I guess we are both learning to not be so prejudiced toward batiks. :)

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  4. I love the honesty in your voice and particularly the 'what went wrong' photos. The runner is just great and I hope your sister-in-law loves it, ChrissieD from P&J blog hop :)

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    1. Thanks! My brother pronounced it "super cute" which was kind of a weird moment, but hopefully bodes well for the reception it will receive. :) Thanks for the follow too!

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  5. The table runner is so tropical and great, lucky SIL. Thanks for the link to the tutorial. I'm one of those people that loves to hand stitch binding on - I even beg and borrow to do it on other peoples quilts! Jam looks so yummy and like a fun time.

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    1. Thank you! It's a great tutorial--fun, quick project. If my table was ever clear, I might make one for myself. ;)

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  6. The table runner is so fun! My sister loves tropical things :)
    Btw. - jam is one of my favorite things to make. Its much like quilt making to me, very fulfilling :)

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  7. That's a great table runner -- your sister in law is lucky!

    I've found with machine binding that if I use a slightly wider seam allowance when I stitch the binding on (3/8" instead of 1/4"), it ends up being much more even in width from front to back, which makes me happy. I sew so slowly by hand that hand-binding anything bigger than a mini would make me want to cry.

    And hooray for making jam -- that's one of my favorite things to do in the summer. :)

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    1. That's a really good idea--I will try that next machine binding that I do!

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  8. Lovely table runner - I generally detest batiks but I could totally live with that runner ;-)

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  9. Definitely looks tropical to me! How did you do the machine stitched binding - attaching to back and pulling to front or the other way around? I get my best results if I attach to the back first because then I see where my stitching is. Also, Crazy mom quilts has a tutorial where she mentions leaving A little extra batting and binding to even it out - I can't remember exactly what she says but it is probably worth taking a look.

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    1. Yeah, I attached it to the back and then pulled to the front. The extra batting/binding is another good idea! All these good suggestions... maybe I will like machine binding eventually yet!

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  10. Beautiful colours in your table runner - I thought I wasn't a batik person either, but I might be converted!

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  11. Lovely table runner! Orange and aqua are two of my favorites! It's so pretty, hope you're keeping it out! Yummy jams, we just canned some wild raspberries a week ago. I could feel your pain since we have a long kitchen with 2 feet of counter space :)

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