Class 150: Project Table Runner

My fabric arrived! Unfortunately I felt so underwhelmed that I carried the box to the sewing room, looked at the fabric for 2 minutes and went back to bed.  I must have been sicker than I thought because I would not have guessed that after waiting almost 2 weeks to get to this next project, that I would rather sleep.  Now, I'm feeling better and have set myself to sewing.

The mock-up from lesson 5 was first on my list.

First thing I did was make photo copies of the fabrics, which didn't work so well. It used ALOT of ink, and the colors still didn't turn out correct. The solid "brownish" strips in the rail fence are actually a green. The center squares are black, and the 2 other squares in the 4 patch are a solid tan. UGH.  So much for getting a real idea of how these fabrics will work. But, I like them when I lay the fabrics together, and since this is what I have I will continue! Note to self: next time just cut the real fabric for the mock up. Here is a picture of the fabrics together, even though they still don't show well. My camera is away on a journey, so I'm using the ipod here. I find it moves when I snap the picture. Sorry, all these photos will look a bit blurry.

Next step was to press and align the fabrics.  I was doing fine until I came across one fabric where it seemed that when I had my torn edges and salvage aligned in the first fold, it appeared that the torn edge bows inward. Sure enough, when I fold the fabric again there is NO WAY I am going to get my torn edges to meet and still have the top edges straight.  How can that be??  Has anyone ever torn fabric where it bows like you were rotary cutting badly?  If it is terribly off grain before we tear it, wouldn't that mean that when we cut at the fold, it is NOT going to tear straight?  Please leave comments!

The floral fabric was purchased in a 1 yard increment, and when I folded it after ironing out the center crease, there was no way this fabric was going to align.  I've never had to "work" a fabric this far. It had at least a 1" fold half way down.  I went back to the book and re-read about re-aligning fabric. I cut the yard in half so I would only work with 1/2 yd at a time and got out my pins. I pinned the salvage together and worked from there down and toward the center and what a surprise!  After a good 15 minutes of being very gentle and patient with my iron and fabric, I got it to re-align the grain so that all edges are straight. I had never had something so far out of wack, so this was a first and came out well.  Here's a case of "trust Harriet, it works!"

Here is a picture of the work in progress:

I've gotten better with keeping all the attached lines moving through the needle, somewhat.  I also have found that using a paper weight to keep my place on which row I'm working from on the right side helps.

I'm not feeling the excitement with this project.  I think the colors just aren't that exciting. I really like the floral pattern.  It was what I was looking for at the quilt shop, but couldn't find anything close.  The patterns work. I have a floral, solid, 2 tonals, and small print. I'm thinking the green tonal should have been lighter?  And, I think I just have a preference to more colorful fabric.  This is.... blah. I'll chalk this up to learning experience.

After I completed sewing all the blocks into rows, I found the next step was to sew the end pieces. This is not a square runner, it has nice points at the ends.  I've noticed others doing these projects have omitted the pointy ends, so I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

I sewed the line of three down, but can't get the end piece to sew on. As you can see, I would be sewing right over my seam lines and the edges would be "out there" flopping around.

And, If I sew the end piece on first it will obviously give me the same problem with overlap outside the seam allowance on the top and bottom seams. 

The instructions do NOT get me the corner units as I would envision they need to go. There is no explanation as to how it should look different than normal. ie. "notice your seams are not all tucked under" etc...  I don't think that when I cut the diagonal that it would get sewn inside the seam allowance..??


I do not have sewing experience.  I've enjoyed quilting because it is not like sewing patterns. I am stumped because clearly there is some assumption here that I'm not getting.  Anyone out there with some clearer instructions?  I think I know why others made it square!  We have not been given lessons on this kind of piecing yet.

In the mean time, I went to sew my rows together, and I've not yet had this problem either!!

My blocks are not meeting up in the corners.  Since I don't feel like seam ripping at the moment, I think I'll go find something else to do for my Saturday afternoon!