Vintage Hankie Table Runner

Now that my life is settling back into a more normal schedule, (hello no more musical rehearsals!) I'm getting back to some sewing. I picked up the new Wisecraft Quilts Book: A Guide to Turning Beloved Fabrics into Meaningful Patchwork a couple weeks ago for some upcycling inspiration. There are 21 projects in the book made from various upcycled materials, such as denim, baby clothing and vintage fabrics. It has beautiful photos of the projects and great information on preparing various types of unconventional fabrics to use in a quilt. When I saw the vintage hankie quilt project, I got all excited because I have a little collection of pretty hankies waiting to be made into something! I had to make it right away!

I decided to cut them up and make a table runner for my mom's birthday present. The pattern in the book calls for sewing the hankies to 20" blocks of white foundation fabric and then cutting that into quarters. Since I wanted to make a table runner, I cut out 13.5" foundation squares. That made for a skinnier row of blocks. Though not intentional at first, I like how some of the larger hankie's frilly details hang over the edge!

To add to the floral explosion, I added a vintage sheet to the back. I did a little bit of hand quilting and added a minty binding. 

I just love how springy and girly this turned out! The finished measurements are about 13" x 48". I used 15 hankies and the fun part is I still have a stack of leftover squares ready to make into another table runner or maybe a quilt!

This was such a fun little project. I'm hoping to try something else from the book, maybe the denim quilt. Or perhaps I will use up the rest of those dang t-shirt leftovers. I definitely want to try creating a design using color values. There are so many upcycling possibilities in this book, I'm looking forward to the next project!

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts