1 Hue + 4 Fat Quarters = Tutorial for a Fabulous Table Runner

Marny here…I love green! Any green, any value, shade, tint, tone and ranging from blue greens to yellow greens. I just love green.  So here we go. 

Choose 4 fat quarters in four values.  Mine are a light yellow green, a medium yellow green, a medium dark blue green, and a dark yellow forest green.  Remember names are subjective and colors are not accurately photographed on a rainy day in a work room.

These 4 fat quarters are neither blendy nor from a common color scheme.  There is a bit of a discordant conversation going on amongst the various players, but it is a very interesting conversation and the overall product is fabulous.  My advice would be to take a bit of risk with your own favorite hue.  

Showing what remains from the 4 fat quarters of 4 varying greens in 4 values (1 fat quarter of each)

Stack the fat quarters, in no particular order, on top of one another.  Orient the stack so that the long edge of your fat quarters (21'') runs from left to right and the short edge of your fat quarters (18'')  runs from your tummy to a point away from you.  Cut a 1 ½'',a 3 ½'',a 5 ½'' and an 8 ½'' strip.  (These cuts add up to 19'' so you need to cut them along the long edge as described.)

Make 4 piles.  Each pile will have one of each size of strip (1 ½'', 3 ½'', 5 ½'', 8 ½'')
and will have one strip from each color.

Sew each of the piles into a unit using ¼'' seams and pressing each seam open.  I chose to make all 4 units in the same order: starting from the top with a 5 ½'' strip, next the 1 ½'' strip, the 3 ½'' strip and finally the 8 ½'' strip.  You might choose to place your strips in some other order.  There are lots of perfectly wonderful ways to do this.  You do want it to end up, though, so you are not sewing two of the same colors together when you sew units to one another.

First unit

Second unit

Third unit

Fourth unit

Trim the sides of the units. Mine are trimmed to 17'' wide.  The height is 17 ½'' unfinished and determined by the strips being sewn together. 

Time for some design choices.  This layout has each unit with the 8 ½'' strip at the bottom.  But the distribution of the lightest fabric seemed off when I fiddled around arranging the blocks this way.

My solution was to turn one unit (3rd one down) and let two 8 ½'' segments land next to one another.  Since I love the juxtaposition of the medium dark blue green and the medium yellow green I am very happy to have them meet in the middle!

Sewn together and out in daylight.  Now for figuring out whether to quilt it, or just face and flip, or ?.

Till Tuesday…