A new table runner

A while back I posted about receiving some ribbons from the lovely Julie at The Ribbon Jar and now I am introducing you my second project using the most amazing Italian Passamano ribbon. I was inspired to feature the ribbon as the main design item in the project... sometimes we use ribbon as a trim, a little hidden detail, etc but not this time... and voilà this is what I came up with!

So want to know how I made it?

I started with a few yards of the lovely Passamano in bright colours... (sorry I have some dotted ping ribbon in the picture as well, but that one was not used in this project!).

Then I found some inexpensive linen (yes of course at Ikea). It is a mixture between linen and burlap I would say and it looks really rustic and just what I wanted. 

Step 1: Cut the linen to your desired size for the table runner + .5 inch length and width for sewing allowance. Mine was 90 x 50 cm.

Step 2: Start playing with the ribbon, and pin it down when you like the way it looks. I went for lines that cross one another and a few that also bent. I looked modern and funky to me, but you can let your imagination fly, this ribbon twists so nicely!

And keep on going, cutting and adding until it looks finished to you... mine looked like this:

Step 3: With a basting stitch (I hand sew mine to make sure it stayed where I wanted it to) sew all your ribbon down to to fabric. You could go straight to the sewing machine but I found it easier to have the ribbon already stitched before I started with my machine.

Step 4: Then I did go to the sewing machine (little helper included) and sewed the ribbon down. I used a matching thread for each ribbon and sewed on both sides very near the edge.

For the crossing points, I basically jumped (lifted the needle and moved the fabric across) to where the other side of the crossing. then just cut and hide the threads. Like this:

When I finished it looked like this:

And a few close up shots of the corners... they are just so pretty I can't help myself.

Step 5: To finish I cut another piece of linen and simply sew both pieces right sides together leaving a little opening to turn inside out and finished with a row of stitching 1/2 inch (1cm) from the border.

Hope you liked the project and it inspires you to create something new!