a Shibori runner
My oldest daughter has come to an in between age that makes Christmas shopping difficult. She's too old for toys and too practical to put much on her wishlist other than books. Fortunately though, it's an age still conducive to sewn gifts. I realized earlier this month that Aria's love of tie dye would certainly translate to a love of Shibori. And lucky me, Cape Cod Shibori is already on my radar!
I selected a colorful Shibori Sampler of hand dyed scraps from Cape Cod Shibori. Like the all-indigo option, this colorful bundle includes a broad variety of Shibori resist patterns for 25 pieces total. The individual scraps range in size from about 5"x 7" to 6"x 8", which I estimated would allow me to make a table topper to decorate her white bedroom dresser. It's something she doesn't need and probably doesn't know she wants, but I think she'll enjoy it! (And - can you believe I'm already thinking this way? - she can take it with her to liven up her dorm someday.)
At first I thought I might turn the scraps into half square triangles, but I would have wasted so much beautiful Shibori cutting them into uniform squares. Instead I decided to arrange them in same-width rows. It's a more flexible setting that uses the fabric super efficiently.
I bound this table topper with the white Ladder Lines print by Carolyn Friedlander and chose a fun backing print that she might like to use on reverse. I skipped batting, as I often do for table runners. I like my runners thin and flat.
To reinforce the patchwork, I quilted zigzag stitch over all seams. I've been using my Janome for zigzag stitching lately as my old Kenmore needs to see the sewing doctor. I do most of my sewing on a fabulous Juki TL 2010Q, but it does straight stitch only. The Janome HD3000 is an affordable starter or alternate machine that's non-computerized for longevity.
I think it came out well! It's nice to start and finish a project in one go for a change. The finished runner is about 18" x 38". Here's hoping it makes her smile!
