11.19.11

Table runner has been made.  Why oh why do I insist on sewing ruffles and pleats?  I love the look of them but man, what a pain to sew. 

I did come up with a trick for sewing pleats today.  After I had sewn, unsewn, resewn my first attempt.  

The actual runner itself was easy.  I bought three yards of flax colored linen (a cotton/linen blend actually) that was super cheap. $3.99 a yard at Hobby Lobby.  

I trimmed the ends and selvedges using a straight edge I've appropriated from Rick's garage.  It looks totally greeby but I prefer it so much over the plastic Omnigrid ones.  Since I rarely quilt, and therefore rarely have to cut small pieces, the heavier metal straight edge works better for me.  Mainly in that is stays put when I am cutting.  I can't tell you how many times the plastic one has scooched while I was cutting.

Plus I think I can square things up better with it.  

I cut two 3" wide strips from the end for the pleats.  Then I just sewed the long edges together to make a tube and then turned the tube inside out.  I pressed it so the seam was centered down the back of my runner. 

Then I started fiddling with the pleats.  And fiddled some more.  First I pinned the pleats in place and sewed them in but they wouldn't stay straight and I didn't catch the back layer when I was sewing.  So I unsewed.  Twice.   I repleated my strip and then – here is where my brilliance kicked in – I used scotch tape to hold down the pleats so I could stay stitch them before sewing them to the ends of the runner. 

After I stay stitched them I positioned them between the layers and, once again, taped them in place.  On both the front and the back. Then I just stitched through the tape.  It was easy enough to remove after I was done sewing.

Maybe this is a well-known pleating trick but it was new to me.  I suppose if you have a super duper fancy Bernina you may not want to risk gumming it up with tape.  But then again if you have a super duper fancy Bernina you probably aren't coming to my blog for sewing tips.  

This fabric was a dream to sew with.  Washed and dried with minimal wrinkles and irons beautifully.  

I had to do a trial run of my Thanksgiving tablescape (forgive the cellphone picture).  I wanted to find a white pumpkin or maybe even a ceramic turkey but didn't have any luck.  So I just used my little quail pot.  I'm still going to look for something a little more Thanksgiving-ish.  I think the floral arrangement with the greenery and candles looks too Christmasy.