I've been wanting to make a table runner for my Welsh dresser for ages and as Christmas is coming and my new Winter Hedgerow and Winter Wildlife fabrics have arrived, it seems like the perfect moment. Table runners are not just for Christmas! Any of my wildlife squares and fabrics would be suitable for this project. Of course, once you know how to make a sawtooth star block, you could use them to make many other patchwork quilty projects.
You will need:
A strip of 9 animals for the central squares (I used Sea Parrot British Winter Wildlife)
A pack of 8 fabric fat eighths (I used the Sea Parrot Winter Hedgerow bundle)
Plain fabric (I used white) cut into 28 strips 6 1/2 x 2 inches
Cut the following after the blocks have been made and joined so that you can fit them to your own table runner topper. It is a good idea to always cut them slightly larger than required.
Wadding approximately 70 x 10 inches (180 x 26 cm). You may have to join some pieces together using a large zig zag stitch.
Backing fabric approximately 70 x 10 inches (180 x 26 cm)
25 mm wide (when sides folded in) bias binding approximately 160 inches long (407 cm)
- Cut the animal fabric into nine 3 1/2 inch squares, making sure the motif is central.
To make one sawtooth star block:
- Choose two fabrics from the bundle. From one fabric, cut four 2 inch squares and one 4 1/4 inch square. From the other fabric, cut four 2 1/2 inch squares.
- Take the four 2 1/2 inch squares and draw a diagonal line, corner to corner, on the back of each.
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Next, take the large 4 1/4 inch square and place two of the squares, right sides facing, in opposite corners as shown below. Pin in place along the lines.
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Sew 1/4 inch from the drawn line, carefully taking out the pins as you go. Then turn the pieces around and sew 1/4 inch from the line all along the other side.
- Now cut along the drawn line.
- You should have two pieces now. Press the seams towards the two smaller triangles.
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Take one of the other two squares and one of your sewn pieces, place and pin as shown, remembering right sides together.
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Sew 1/4 inch away from the drawn line on one side and then the other as before.
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Cut along the drawn line. Open out and press the seams towards the small triangles. Repeat with the last square and other sewn piece. You should have four pieces like below. Four 'flying geese'!
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These four blocks now need to be squared up. They need to be 2 x 3 1/2 inches. The important thing is to make sure that there is a 1/4 inch seam allowance at the top of the triangle. This makes sure that the point won't be cut off.
- Take all your block pieces and lay them out as show below.
- Sew the top row of pieces together and press the seams towards the squares. Sew the second row of pieces together and press the seams towards the central square. Then sew the bottom row of pieces together and again press towards the corner squares.
- Now sew the three rows together, matching the seams as closely as possible.
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One sawtooth star block is complete! Repeat for the other 8 animals.
To make the table runner:
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Whilst making this project, I think I came up with a way of making all the blocks the same size. It seemed to work for me anyway!
Take two of the border strips (2 x 6 1/2 inches) and place them on the cutting board so that the distance from the top of one to the bottom of the other is 6 1/2 inches. Face up if you have a back and a front to your fabric. See photo below.
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Place an animal block face down on the strips as squarely as possible. There will be areas where the sewn block is smaller then the strip area and areas where it is larger.
- Pin the block and strips together.
- Turn it over and pin for sewing along the top and bottom edge. Remove the previous pinning.
- Sew the strips to the block using the strips as the guide for the 1/4 inch seam. Press the seams towards the border.
- Repeat for all the blocks.
- Cut 20 squares 2 x 2 inches from the Winter Hedgerow fabrics.
- Sew one square to each end of the remaining ten 2 x 6 1/2 inch fabric strips. Press the seams away from the squares.
- Lay out your pieces in a configuration that you like.
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Start at one end and sew the side strips to the end block. Sew one side strip to the next block and so on.
Your table runner topper is complete! Now use my previous blogs to quilt and bind in the usual manner. I hand quilted 'in the ditch' as I wanted to emphasise the star.