How-To: Painted Patterned Table Runner

Howdy, readers! How was the weekend?

We’re working up some nautically fun details for an upcoming wedding and we wanted to share a pretty simple how-to project that will add color and a pop of fun to your table top. We can envision recreating this for autumn as well as for a Thanksgiving or holiday table in various shapes {the magic of tape} and sizes and dreamy colors. For this particular project we went with a yacht club-inspired palette of sky blue, navy and a buttery yellow and angled our tape to mimic yachting flag triangles on our fabric. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 1 yard of muslin fabric {per runner} | good fabric paint | a paint brush | packing tape {we don’t recommend using painters’ tape as the paint can seep under the table blurring the paint line} | heavy-duty paper.

Step 1: cut your runner to size using fabric scissors {we cut ours to 3′ x 1′ wide}

Step 2: Lay out your fabric atop the paper and tape triangles out with the tape. KEY: tape the fabric to your paper so it holds in place while you’re painting.

Step 3: Start to fill in your triangles with colors.

Step 4: Once the paint is totally dry carefully peel it back from the fabric. That’s it! We told you it was an easy project, right? The beauty of muslin fabric is that the ends will be a little frayed {ever-so-naturally} once cut but this piece will also develop the feeling of canvas once the paint dries.

For this mock-up we decided to layer plain muslin with old parcel maps. We topped several with our runner and layered again with leaves in simple glasses filled with water.

The result is a unique runner that anchors {no pun intended!} a thoughtful table in the simplest of ways.

How-to and photos: Valley & Co.

Tell us, friends: would you recreate this project for your table top? What colors and patterns would you use?