Faded Hearts!

How’s this for a fun idea?! I've done a lot with this trapezoid cut over the years. It makes the easiest braided table runner (that also uses up scraps), and in this case, I thought it would be cute to cut the end like a heart and play with shading a bit.

First, I cut a couple 120 degree triangles from a 10” tall scrap. This cut is made from the side of the Large 60-degree Diamond Ruler and could be done with about a 10” x 4” rectangle.

I cut a bunch of pink leftovers into 2½” strips. I had 10 pinks in all, and I could have done this whole runner with just one 2½” strip from each. From each 2½” strip, cut four 8½” trapezoids. Using the triangle lines on your ruler, align the dashed 8½” line with the bottom of the strip and the 6” black star burr line with the top of the strip. Cut on both sides of the ruler and trim the outer tips off flat. Rotate the ruler 180 degrees to make the next cut.

Here are all my shades of trapezoids ready to go! You will need 40 total for the whole runner.

To start, use the 120-degree triangle as the base. I cut this out of the same fabric as my first trapezoid set, so they would blend together. Now, add two matching trapezoids to the angled edges of the triangle. Sew the right one in place, press the seam open, then add the left one.

Add the next set of trapezoids in the same way as the first set. Press each seam open before adding the next trapezoid. 

I laid out all of my shades before sewing to see how the colors would blend. 

Here it is all sewn together. I made two matching panels like this.

It turned out that the center peak was offset, and I thought that would look strange with the heart-shaped ends, so I trimmed the right side down 2” to recenter the point in the middle of the runner. In the future, I could do 6½” trapezoids down the right column and 8½” trapezoids down the left column to get the same result.

I laid both panels out facing each other. This leaves a triangle gap in the middle.

I cut two 6½” triangles to fill in those gaps. I cut these from the lightest shade to blend with the heart braid. Sew one triangle to each panel and press that seam open. Sew one final seam up the middle to join the two panels together, and press that seam open. At this point, the table runner measured 12½” x 51” 

I quilted it with my typical straight line quilting and used a plastic lid that was just the right size to cut my rounded heart ends. 

I found just enough pink striped fabric to cut a bias binding. Because of the rounded heart ends, you have to use a bias cut binding to finish this off. Here is a YouTube video I did a while back on how to cut bias binding. You may also find this video I did on binding inside angles helpful for binding that little V in the middle of the heart.

And here it is! A cheerful trapezoid heart table runner to brighten up my kitchen!

Happy Sunday, everyone,

Krista

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