As this was our first Thanksgiving in Georgia (and possibly only), I wanted to make something special to decorate the table. Our table runner was made from upholstery fabric samples that I purchased the Saturday before Thanksgiving at a local thrift store.

I cut each piece into varying sizes. Some of the fabric needed to be pieced to fit together. I didn’t have a system for putting them together; just had two separate pieces I was sewing together – one stayed on the machine while I added another piece to the second.

I used the same fabric for the beginning and the end of the runner. I liked the way the colors distributed throughout, although I did not do too much intentionally. It took about 2 hours from start to finish to make the whole piece.

To finish I cut the backing fabric, put right sides together, and sewed around the edges with a 4 inch opening to turn it. A single stitch about a 1/4 inch from the edges closed the gap and made the runner lie flat. The final piece is shown here on our vintage sewing table (unfortunately the machine does not work). I will post later about our dinner with some photos of the decorated table.