My name is Tracy, but you can call me Martha: Burlap Bonanza!

I went burlap crazy over the holiday weekend! As a last minute wedding add-on, we arranged to have some barrels of hay scattered around the cocktail hour location for additional seating. To prevent our guests bums from being poked with hay, we bought some yardage of burlap to throw over the barrels. Now, I have about 6 yards of burlap that were dying for some creative project.

I've been wanting to make a runner for my sofa table since Christmas. I bought a red & green holiday runner last year and loved having some fabric on top of the dark wood of the table. I almost bought a table cloth at Target a couple months ago to convert to a runner, but I'm really glad I didn't now! Here's a photo of my new finished burlap runner:

It was really very simple! It had to be, I've only owned a sewing machine for about 5 months now so I'm most definitely an amateur.

First I cut a piece of burlap the length of the table + a couple inches for some overhang on each side + an inch on each edge for allowance.

Then I finished the two long edges by folding over about an inch and doing a simple straight stitch. Because the burlap has a wide pattern, I used the shortest stitch length my machine would allow. (If you sew, you are probably laughing at my lack of proper sewing vocabulary right now.) Here's a little tip: I find it very hard to keep my edges straight so I made a cheat sheet template out of a piece of cardboard. I drew a straight line an inch down from the edge of the cardboard and folded the fabric over it to the line while ironing.

Then I cut the two ruffley edge pieces, about 6 inches long x the width of the runner + 4 inches on each side (to allow for the ruffles) + one inch around all 4 sides for sewing allowance. Finish three edges of each ruffle piece (fold corners like photo below) then attach the unfinished edge to one end of the runner, pining together face to face (so when you flip it over after sewing both right sides are facing up).

To make the ruffle, pin both edge corners together. Then, make small folds wherever you'd like across the top to eat up any slack.

Ta-da! Burlap runner! Okay, okay, so my sewing tutorial skills leave something to be desired, but in my defense, this is my first attempt. I can sew anything that comes with directions/pattern/tutorial, but it's a little more difficult for me to invent something sewn. I was more preoccupied with making it work than taking good notes or photos. Sorry kids!

When the runner turned out well, I decided to take my chances at something more complex: a cover for the Cat Cave. The cave has a little shelf above the door where we keep the cat's brush and some of his toys, as well as the multiple items we use to try to keep all his black hair off the furniture. I wanted to try to hide that shelf.

I basically followed the same directions as above. Cut a square the size of the cave top + 1 inch on all 4 sides for allowance. Cut 4 edge panels, 4 inches longer on each side than the main piece. Attached and sewed on the ruffles the same way as the runner. Here's how it turned out:

Much better, eh?

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