Make two projects from $3 Target dollar spot table runners

I was recently at Target checking out their dollar spot section.  Who doesn’t love the Target dollar spot section?  They have great decor items for so cheap!  Win, win!  I found a table runner which was super cute and has a Farmhouse feel to it.  I wanted to use it on our dining room table with my Christmas tablescape, however when I got it home and unrolled it, I quickly realized that it was not going to work as a table runner.  It was only about 12 x 50 inches long!  I don’t know what kind of table this would fit on, maybe Santa’s elves table?  😉

The fabric had a cool texture to it and I loved the grain sack stripes down the center so I started brainstorming ideas on what else I could do with it.  I still wanted to make a Christmas pillow cover for my 12 x 26” lumbar pillow insert, however this was going to be a bit small for that.  I thought about adding some plain cream colored fabric on the edges, or even red, but could not find a cream that matched well enough.  Mr. Wonderful suggested I just buy another table runner.  Duh!  What a brilliant idea!  After all, it was only $3.  I don’t know why I didn’t think of that in the first place. Lol.

I knew I was not going to need the whole table runner for this.  After all I only needed some of the width from the edges, so I would be left with the middle strip with the stripes.  It worked perfect to make a cloth ribbon.

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For these projects you will need:

• 2 table runners from Target’s dollar spot
• Sewing machine
• 12 x 26” Ikea Fjadrar Pillow insert
• 18” zipper
• Cutting mat, rotary cutter and 24″ ruler – this is optional, you can just use scissors to cut your fabric but this makes cutting fabric so much easier!
• Cream colored thread
• Iron
• A piece of cardstock
• Seam ripper

Lumbar pillow cover

I use down feather pillow inserts from Ikea.  These are the best!  They are the most reasonable priced feather inserts and are nice because they will never loose their shape.  All you have to do is fluff them back up and they look great again.  Plus they are washable!

Since the table runners are 12 x 50” they are barely long enough to fit around the whole pillow.  Using my rotary cutter and long ruler, I cut the seams off of the long edges of the table runner.  I left the seams on the ends and seam ripped them open so I could get that extra length for my pillow cover.

Using the second table runner,  I  cut off 2 ¾” along each long side.  I opened the seams on the end of these pieces, but left it on the piece I would use for the cloth ribbon.  You will sew these pieces to each side of the first table runner.  After it was all sewn together, I cut it in half.  This leaves you with 2 pieces that are about 17 x 26”.  

I sewed these pieces together inserting a zipper using the same method I used in my easy zippered pillow cover tutorial.

Cloth Ribbon

With the remaining piece from the second table runner, I cut it down leaving 1” on each side of the red stripes.  I sewed a double fold hem on each long side of the ribbon.  Here is a cheap and easy trick to ironing a seam.  Take a piece of cardstock and measure along the long edge how big you want your seam to be.  In this case we are making it a ¼” seam.  Using a pen, draw a line.  

Using the cardstock, fold the edge of the fabric around it until it touches your line.  Iron it down, it is okay to iron over the cardstock.  Move it along the length of the ribbon.  You can also use a sewing gauge to do this but I didn’t have one so I improvised.  🙂  After your ¼” seam is ironed, you will fold it over onto itself and iron it again.  This gives you the double folded hem which will give you a finished edge on each side.  Finish the hem off by sewing a seam along the edge of the hem.  The ends are a little challenging to get over because of the bulk of the fabric that is there.  Just take it slow and gently help the fabric along.

I love the Farmhouse look to this ribbon.   It works great for Christmas time like now, or anytime of the year.  The ribbon looks fantastic on this boxwood wreath hanging on my DIY tobacco basket.

It is so fun and rewarding to take something you can’t use and transform it into something you want.  I love doing little projects like these that don’t take a lot of time.  I hope this inspires you to look at things differently if you don’t think you can use them.  There may be a lot of things around your house you can transform.  🙂   Have a wonderful day!

Kimberly