DIY Hand-painted Drop Cloth Table Runner

Hey Y’all I’m excited to be planning a Welcome to Fall Dinner here at the Ponds. We plan to use the outdoor kitchen and patio area to entertain our guests and I wanted something to dress up the tables. Since the atmosphere is very casual, I decided to use table runners instead of table clothes.

Do you know how hard it is to find fall table runner’s in various lengths? Well, it’s impossible so here is how I made a DIY Hand-painted Drop Cloth Table Runner for each table. They are custom made to fit all the different table lengths for our outdoor kitchen and entertaining area. Yay!

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Prepare Drop Cloth

Before you start this project, wash and dry the drop cloth. Remove from dryer while damp to avoid having to press.

First, cut your table runner’s the length and width you need from the drop cloth material. Allow about 1/2 inch on each side for hem if you plan to hem the edges of your runner.

I personally used a serger machine to stitch the raw edges and stop them from fraying. There are several options, including turning the edge under and stitching with a sewing machine. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can use fabric glue to fold the raw edge under. Another option is to leave the edges raw and use a liquid fray block to keep it from unraveling any further.

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Draw flowers on DIY Drop Cloth Table Runner

Once you have your table runners cut to size and the edges taken care of, it’s time to draw your flowers. For this step, use a dark brown or black sharpie marker with a fine point. Begin at the bottom edge of the runner and draw lines using the sharpie up the fabric at varying lengths. These will be the stems of your flowers.

Next, begin to draw the flowers themselves. Begin in the center of each flower and draw a swirling circle for the flower’s center. Then, draw larger swirling circles for the petals. I like to make some more round and other’s more oval in shape.

This is a fast process and the flowers can be messy because no two should be identical.

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Hand Paint the Flowers on the table runner

For the next step, you will need to determine the colors for your flowers. I choose blue, orange and yellow. I choose to use Chalk Paint for the hand painted flowers because it’s pliable and doesn’t require a fabric medium. If you use regular craft paint, add a fabric medium so the table runner’s will not be stiff where painted.

Mix you paint with water at approximately a 50/50 ratio. You will want to see through the paint once it’s applied to the flowers. Using the same swirling motion, paint each flower. There is no need to stay within the lines as you paint. Allow your brush to just float over the drawn flowers.

In addition to the flowers, add a few leaves to the stems. For these, I used just a dab of brown craft paint to each leaf.

DIY Hand-painted Drop cloth Table runner Finished

Once the paint is dry, you can place your new DIY Hand-painted Drop Cloth Table Runner on the table. I can’t wait to use the cute table runner’s at my fall event.

You will also like this hand painted pumpkin pillow cover tutorial.

The colors work perfectly with the chair cushions that I use in the outdoor kitchen.

If you’d like to see more about the outdoor kitchen entertaining area, you can see before and after here.

Note: Heat Set Table Runner – Place a piece of fabric or towel over the painted area once it is completely dry. Use a hot iron to press over the entire painted area. You can now hand wash your table runner safely.

Click here to see how to make tassels to add to the table runners. If you’d like to see how I planned for this party click here and here are the table arrangement details.

You can see how I made the Earthenware Vessel from a thrift store find here.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I look forward to sharing my next adventure with you.

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