Linen is just one of my favorite things, whether it’s old linen table clothes or napkins or pillow slips. It’s a luxury in sheets and a necessity in summer clothes. My big indulgence is Cutliver linens which I first experienced at the Slow Living Retreat in Bryon Bay. All the beds inside our Happy Glamper bell tents were made up with Cutliver linen bedding and when we were gifted one of their glorious Marias Robes … I was hooked. Here’s a quick and easy way to introduce a little bit more linen into your home.

Make a “Lazy” Runner

This is the cheats way to make a linen table runner. As the tea towels are already hemmed you don’t even need to own a sewing machine!

A vintage linen runner, simply stitched, which I recently purchased from Faded Emporium inspired me to create a humbler DIY version for my long dining table.

Skill level: Easy-as

Tip: Buy your tea towels at a hospitality wholesaler .. they’re super cheap, mine were only $1.20 each.

You will need

• 3-5 linen (or linen/cotton mix) tea towels. The number of tea towels will depending on how long you want your table runner to be.
• Embroidery cotton

Equipment

• Scissors
• Needle

When selecting your tea towels visualise them all joined together as a runner and choose the look you want. For instance, for a French country look you might like striped red and white linen or for a more Australian look just the raw linen perhaps with a faint little stripe. I chose a soft cotton tea towel with a large thread weave and 2 lovely thin blue lines running down the the middle.

Now pinch the short edge hemmed edges of the tea towels together and over-stitch them (see first illustration). Alternatively you can ladder stitch them if you’re feeling clever. (see second illustration)

Overcast stitch (this is what I used)

Use ladder stitch if you want the stitching on the join to be more invisible

I used an embroidery cotton colour that blended into the fabric colour (because my stitches are always a bit uneven) but you can contrast the stitches if you like.

If there are stripes in the fabric don’t be too fussy about lining them up because the tea towels are probably not consistent .. it all just becomes part of the rustic look.

It only takes minutes to sew the tea towels together and then Voila, a table runner!

Sources: stitch illustrations