Reversible Fall Table Runner

I am excited to share this tutorial because it is so damn easy.

First of all, it is simply a large quilt block which makes a pretty centerpiece for your table.

Second of all, there a few tricks to making it so quickly that avoid sewing a bunch of little triangles. 

Third, it is reversible!

This center piece has Thanksgiving and general autumn fabric on one side and all Halloween fabric on the other.

Halloween is one of those holidays that I typically do not decorate for because It seems to come and go so quickly. By making this reversible, you can participate in Halloween decorations and easily flip to general fall fabrics on the other side, with no need for storing a Halloween table runner by itself.

Enough jabbering, here is how to do it:

Get your fabric together. 

For ONE block you will need two 10" squares of each fabric:

two 10" dark fabric

two 10" medium fabric

two 10" background fabric

If you want to make this reversible you will need TWO blocks worth of fabric.

I made four blocks worth of fabric because I am making two reversible table runners.

I am going to make one of these using only one set of fabric to make a Christmas table runner with a plain background next.

 That is the beauty of these, the possibilities are endless.

Cut your 10" squares

Pair your 10" squares:

1st pair: 1 dark, 1 medium

2nd pair: 1 medium, 1 background

3rd pair: 1 dark, 1 medium

In this case, my orange ghost fabric is my background, my pumpkin fabric is the medium and the skeleton fabric is my dark.

This photo shows how I laid out my fabric for TWO sets of Halloween fabrics. You will only need one set.

This is where the trick comes in.

Line up your pairs right sides facing in and stitch completely around the outside. Do not leave any holes to turn the fabric. Stitch them all the way around.

Then, sort them. I sorted Halloween and Thanksgiving for my two sides.

Cut diagonally across each sewn square as shown above.

This is how you avoid cutting all those little triangles by hand.

Then, press then open towards the darker fabric. 

See how simple that is!

I use this trick whenever I can.

Sort and trim your half square triangles.

Now you will need to measure your half square triangles and cut out 4 squares of the background fabric for each side of your table runner.

You should have:

 Four 6.5" X 6.5" Halloween background fabric squares

Four 6.5" X 6.5" Thanksgiving background fabric squares

If your half square triangles are bigger or smaller than 6.5" X 6.5" then just make sure your background squares are the same size. I ran out of background fabric and used a different color entirely for these four squares. It is up to you how you make it!

At this point I like to lay all of my pieces out so I can get a feel for how it is coming together.

I included my feet in this picture so you can see how large the blocks really are.

You should have one set of Thanksgiving and one set of Halloween.

Like I said, I made two of each because I'm making two table runners.

Next, sew them together. I put the corner squares onto each side (as shown) and attached the center pinwheel first. Then, sew all the pieces to the center square.

Next, trim up your squares and pin them together right sides out with your batting in the middle. 

Then, quilt them however you would like!

This is my first time ever doing quilting other than stitch-in-the-ditch because I'm still learning.

I had lots of fun doing it and really liked how it turned out.

I used a yellow thread because that is the only color that the two sides had in common.

When you finish quilting it, add a binding and you are finished!

I know this is a little late for Halloween, but at least I got it posted in time for Thanksgiving. Now I just need to make a Christmas one.

If you make one of your own I'd love for your to send me the link so I can check it out!