Flit and Bloom Table Runner + How to Piece Curves
Welcome to the Cloth Parcel blog! Today it’s our turn for the Flit and Bloom blog tour. Flit and Bloom is Patty Young‘s newest fabric line for Riley Blake Designs, and we got the chance to play with these fun prints and a variety of techniques.
Look how bright and happy this collection is, all stacked up with threads and clips to match.
How to Piece Curves
One of the techniques we incorporated for this project is curved piecing. If you’ve never done this before, it can be intimidating, but rest assured that it can be done. A really handy tool we like to use is the Classic Curves Ruler by Color Girl Quilts. This takes all the guesswork out of cutting circular curves with seam allowance included.
First step, cut your curved pieces. We cut the inside curve from a 7″ square, along the 7″ circle line on the ruler. Then, we used a 10″ square for the background, also cutting on the 7″ circle.
Next, fold each curve in half and finger press to mark the center point.
With right sides together, pin the curves together at the center mark.
Match the curved pieces together and pin both ends. You can add more pins along the curve if you’d like, but we think these are the three most important points. Note that your fabrics will not lay flat at this point.
Sew together with a 1/4″ seam along the curves, making sure to take your sweet time and ease the fabrics together. We think it’s easiest to sew with the background curve on the bottom.
This is what you’ll see on the back after sewing and before pressing.
Carefully press, with the seam facing either direction. These curved pieces have a tendency to stretch, so be careful to not skew your block at this point. If you’re matching these up to form a circle, you will want to press the seams in opposite directions.
And that’s it! Don’t be sad if it takes a while to get the hang of curves; we’ve been there. It can take a bit to get used to it, but if you’ve ever set in a sleeve, you should be right at home.
Flit and Bloom Table Runner
Now let’s take a closer look at this cute table runner! In keeping with the theme of the fabric, we added three appliqued birds to the center of our scrappy circle blocks, and a flock of 105 flying geese.
We drew the bird shapes and cut them out on our Silhouette Cameo. Then, we fused them to the background and top stitched around the edges with thick Aurifil 12-weight thread, adding a wing to each bird.
We took inspiration from the shape of the bird to echo quilt around each bird within the circle.
We did spiral quilting on the background of each square, with a little triangle design in each corner. We used a Frixion pen to draw the corner design, then removed the lines with the iron.
All of the quilting on this was done with a walking foot on a domestic sewing machine. 
For a table runner, it’s fairly large, measuring in at 24″ x 60″. But, it looks like a party and really shows off those lovely prints!
Giveaway! (CLOSED)
Our winner is #21, Stephannie! Congratulations!
Yay, freebies! Would you like to play with some Flit and Bloom fabric, too? We have some good-size chunks of fabric left, and we’re giving this bundle to one lucky winner! Here’s how to enter:
- Just flit on over to our patterns page and tell us (in the comments on this post) which one you like best. We will send your favorite pattern along with the fabric!
- For an extra entry, tell us how you follow along. We’re also on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
This giveaway is open to US only, and will be open until 11/15/17 at midnight MST. We will announce the winner here and contact via email.
Be sure to check out all of the previous stops on the blog tour, if you haven’t already.
Monday, Nov. 6th – Night Quilter – http://nightquilter.com/
Tuesday, Nov. 7th – Winging It!/Hummingbird Highway – http://scrap-therapy-quilts.
Wednesday, Nov. 8th – Blue Nickel Studios – http://www.
Thursday, Nov. 9th – ReannaLily Designs – http://www.
Friday, Nov. 10th – The Sewing Loft – http://thesewingloftblog.
Saturday, Nov. 11th – The Cloth Parcel <– You are here!
I am all about scrappy quilt patterns and your midsummer trellis pattern is great. The colors of this fabric line would be great for that. Thanks.
Oh, these are gorgeous fabrics! Thanks for sharing the tutorial on how to piece curves. I’ve not tried it by machine, but now think I might!
It is hard to pick just one pattern, but the one I kept going back to is the moon blossoms pattern. Do pretty and different from anything I have seen!
I follow you on Facebook, too!
What a great gift to win these lovely scraps! I do appreciate your tips in sewing curves as it’s one I need to give more time and practice. One of my favorite patterns of yours is the Theory of Refractions!
I love the Kitty Cat pet mat pattern. Thanks for the chance to win your awesome giveaway!
I follow you on Instagram!
Candy Shoppe is my favorite pattern and I do so love scraps. Scrappy quilts are my favorite quilts. I rarely throw any fabric away unless it is less than 1 or 2″ square. There is always a use for the scraps.
Love the Moon Blossoms pattern. I can’t resist stars of any kind. This is really pretty! Thanks for the chance to win it!
i follow you by email. always enjoy your posts and projects. Thanks for the tutorials and free stuff too!
I love your Woodland Wander pattern! Your table runner is beautiful, and I love the quilting. Thanks for the tips for sewing curves and for the chance to win.
I follow you on Instagram as ceciliaquilts.
Love your table runner – these fabrics have just the most wonderful colors! I like the Midsomer Garden Trellis Quilt pattern – very pretty! Thank you, Susan
I follow you on Facebook & Instagram!
Candy Shoppe is my favorite. I follow you by blog post.
Woodland wonder quilt….love the woods…. happyness04431@yahoo.com
I follow you on facebook. .. happyness04431@yahoo.com
That runner – and the quilting! – are so lovely : ) And thanks for the giveaway opportunity! I love your Moon Blossoms pattern.
And I follow you on Instagram : )
Seaside Cottages is my choice. The design and the colors are captivating. I follow you via Bloglovin’.
I’m a follower on Instagram.
I love the Puppy Dog Pet Mat. My husband’s family loves dogs. All of his siblings have one. The pet mat would be a perfect choice for a Christmas gift for any one of them.
I follow you by email. 🙂
This is one of the most beautiful table runners I’ve ever seen! I love the fabric and the design. Thanks for sharing this. My favorite pattern is the Artists Portfolio
I follow you on Instagram. Thanks for all the inspiration!
Great runner, love the colors. Star Farm looks like a great one. I love stars of all kinds.
I follow on FB and BL.
My favorite pattern is Midsummer Garden Trellis. Thank you for the tutorial on sewing curves.
And I follow you on Bloglovin…..
Your moon blossoms quilt is absolutely gorgeous!! Thank you for your tutorial. ❤️
I like the weekend market tote. Especially the pockets on the outside.
Still loving this fabric line. Colors are so refreshing and soothing. Would love a quilt with this! Hope I win!!
Thank you so much for the curved piecing tutorial. Wonderful patterns! I especially love forever bound and the artist portfolio! ❣️