DIY Summer Table Runner – Keeping it Clean and Bright

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Clean2TheCore #CollectiveBias

One of my favorite ways to decorate my home is by using table runners.  They are easy to store and they can dress up the kitchen for any season or holiday.  My only problem is I have kids and as many of you know kids are very messy eaters.  It’s a struggle to put out a table runner that I spent time making only to have it be spilled on, stained then become smelly!

Recently I found these all® POWERCORE™ Pacs Plus Removes Tough Odors at my local Wal-Mart in the laundry aisle.  Right from the beginning I noticed that it fights tough kid stains, and has a whiteing and brightening feature.  I thought they would be perfect for washing my table runners.

After my shopping trip I decided to make a new Summer table runner. I wanted something with bright colors that could stay on my table through the end of August.  I decided to use a green, pink and blue color scheme and to put a vingtage bicycle design.

To make your own runner you’ll need:

1 yard of your choice in fabric (I used tan linen fabric)

Iron vinyl sheets (your choice in colors)

Wired ribbon 2-3 rolls

Thread

Tools you will need:

Surger

Sewing Machine

Scissors (or rotoray cutter and mat)

Personal cutting machine

First cut your fabric 3 feet long (the length of the yard) by 15 inches wide.  Then surge or sew around all of the edges of your fabric.

 

After the base of your runner is complete. Pulling the wire out of one side of the ribbon to creates a ruffle 15 inches long.  Cut the ribbon at 15 inches and then pin the ruffeled ribbon 1/2 inch from the bottom edge of my runner base.

Sew the ribbon on to the runner base and repeat this process with your 2nd layer of ribbon.  Sew a 3rd thin ribbon across the top for more detail then repeat sewing the 3 layers of ribbon on the other side of the table runner.

Purchasing the vintage bicyle design online made it easy. Then I used my personal cutting machine to cut 6 bicycles that measure 3 inches tall by 4 inches wide.  You can choose whatever image you would like to use. I cut 2 bicycles out of each color of iron on vinyl.  Next peel the excess vinyl off of the clear backing to reveal the bicycle design.

I placed 3 of  the iron on bicycles about 1 inch from the sewn on ribbons.  Make sure they are straight and place them evenly apart.  After they were place where I wanted them, I ironed them into place.  Most noteworthy I repeated same process on the other side of my table runner.  I peeled off the clear plastic backing to reveal my new summer table runner.

It is so fun to place my new summer table runner on my kitchen table.  Just loving how bright the colors are and how it brings a fun summer feeling into my kitchen.Within a few hours of placing my new summer runner on my table.  That crisp new fresh feeling had come to an end! Due to lunch time and the kids never remembering to take the table runner off or push it aside.

In addition I turned around to find 2 kids happily eating lunch all over my new table runner.  My first reaction was panic as I saw what was already spilled.  I was ready to pull it off and start blotting and rinsing.  Most of all I remembered the all® POWERCORE™ Pacs Plus Removes Tough Odors and knew that I would be able to get my table runner clean and bright again.  I decided to let the kids be kids!

After lunch I inspected the damage done to my new table runner and got it ready to go in the washer by scraping off the large chunks of food.

I placed the table runner in the washer and followed the exact directions for use as indicated on the bottle of the all® POWERCORE™ Pacs Plus Removes Tough Odors. After my table runner was done washing I hung it up to dry.

 My new summer table runner came out looking bright fresh and new!  I couldn’t even tell that it had been washed, the all® POWERCORE™ Pacs Plus Removes Tough Odors fights tough kid stains and kept the colors vibrant and it smelled so fresh!  Most of all I was ready to put it back out on my kitchen table.

I found that all® PowerCore Pacs are available in two varites all® POWERCORE™ Pacs OXI and all® POWERCORE™ Pacs Plus Removes Tough Odor.  How do you like to decorate and keep your home fresh and clean for the summer season?