Crumb Quilt Table Runner

Don't toss out your scraps! Use your favorite bits of fabric and transform them into a colorful work of art.

If you're anything like me, it can be hard to throw out scrapes. I tend to keep all my fabric scraps, because I just love the fabric so much!

Crumb quilting is a great way to use up small, uneven pieces of fabric you may have. It's a fun technique that doesn't require any precision sewing.

For crumb quilting, you can use any size or shape of fabric. All you need is a straight edge on one side of the fabric to get started. This technique is also great if you have strips of left-over fabric from other projects. If you need to boost your fabric collection, we offer these amazing scrap bags in the shop!

If your scrap doesn't have a straight edge, use your rotary cutter to create a straight edge. Once you have straight edges, you can start sewing your pieces together.

Part of the fun of crumb quilting is there are no rules! You don't have to worry about pieces matching and you don't have to worry about color combinations. Just take pieces from your scrap pile and start sewing. You can also start with a strip of fabric, and sew pieces onto it. This process goes fast, especially if you chain piece at your sewing machine.

Next, you'll want to press your pieces open. You can press the seams to one side or you can press them open. It's up to your personal preference. I normally press to one side, but if the seams get bulky, you can press them open.

Now we can take the pieces we've sewn and cut a new straight edge. You keep piecing the units together until you have a new, large unit of fabric.

For the project I'm working on, I need 10 inch squares. I've joined all my crumb pieces and now I have this big piece of fabric. The last thing I need to do it cut my 10 inch square.

I used my new crumb blocks to create a table runner. I didn't follow a pattern to put it together (I just winged it!) but you can use this free table runner pattern from Art Gallery Fabrics if you want step by step instructions.

Speckled from Ruby Star Society was an obvious choice for my backing, because I am in love with all these gorgeous basics. I used Metallic Cactus which went well with all my scraps.

I tackled a big fear and dove straight into free motion quilting on my home machine - even though I feel like I'm not good at it! I am so happy with the results and glad I gave myself permission to be imperfect.

Personally, I always bind my projects by hand. I love using a needle and thread! And when you make the binding from Art Gallery Fabrics like the ones I used from the collection Aquarelle, it's truly a pleasure to feel the silky fabric as you go along.

And there we have it! I hope this inspires you to dive into your scraps and make something amazing! I'd love to hear about your projects, so please share them with me here on the blog, on Facebook, or Instagram.