Cutting a Panel - Project 1

 Cutting a panel into parts is stressful. I measure once, I measure twice and then I second and third guess myself and measure again and yet again, again. Am I alone? I agonize over making a mistake, especially if I took the time to embroider the panel too. My Snowfolks panel has six fun sections, all different shapes and sizes.  I also find that panels are sometimes kiddy Wampus and may need to be blocked before cutting. A great video on blocking a panel can be found, 

HERE

I envision some fun projects! A table runner, a mug rug, maybe an accent pillow...It's fun to turn a large panel into some smaller projects to go along with a larger quilt, or even just to get ahead of Christmas and get a few gifts done quickly. 

For a fun project for Christmas, that can be left out all winter long, the bottom section would make a beautiful table runner for my coffee bar. To make it, I start out by fussy cutting the bottom section. I use the navy blue swirl fabric and cut a couple of 2" strips by the width of the fabric for the first border.

I measured the length of the rectangle and added a border to the top and bottom using a 1/4" seam. I then measured the width of the table runner and cut my 2" navy blue fabric to that length and sew them to the sides of my runner. Iron.

For a scrappy border without having to piece a scrappy border I use my strip it fabric. I cut 2 or 3 2 1/2" strips by the width of the fabric to form a scrappy strip. I play around with the placement of the strips until I like the arrangement. For each side I cut a 2 'scrap' section of the strip it and center it on the sides of the table runner and sew them in place first. Then I sew the top and bottom strips in place. I then square everything up again.

Layer your table runner with backing and batting to make a quilt sandwich and then quilt your table runner as desired.

I did some free motion quilting around the design, I haven't machine quilted in awhile and boy I felt rusty! I also couldn't find my quilting gloves... they are somewhere in my sewing room but where? I hope they aren't packed in my retreat bag, I will die of embarrassment if they are because then it's been AWHILE since I did free motion quilting.

I bound my table runner with the same navy fabric as my inner border. Can't wait to put it on my coffee bar this winter!

I hope you enjoyed my little table runner tutorial. I hope that you are fearless and find some time to cut a panel apart for some smaller projects. I have a couple more to show you over the next few days... 

Happy Quilting! Hope you find some time to sew...

Cindy and Josephine