The Autumn Fall {FREE TEMPLATE}

Good Morning and welcome to day one of the "I'm Falling for You" blog hop, hosted by Joan of MooseStash Quilting.

Though it's spring here in the southern hemisphere, I absolutely love the colours of autumn. And if I'm being frank, autumn is my absolute favourite time of the year. After a blistering hot summer, the crisp days and cool nights are welcome relief.

I googled a little bit and pinterested (a lot), when I was trying to decide what I'd make for this hop. I found a very cool table runner idea which looked as though autumn leaves had been scattered all over. The leaves were cut out with a cricut or silhouette machine which is great if you have one. As I didn't have one, I thought I'd go down the old-skool road and trace out my leaves on to fusible paper, press to fabric and cut out by hand.

There are a lot of great autumnal kids colouring pages available to print which was where I found my basic leaf shapes. The shapes had a lot more detail that I wanted, so I created a little outline template for each leaf shape. 

You can download and print up the template which I created for my 'The Autumn Fall' table runner further down in this post.

Read on for the basic steps on how I made The Autumn Fall runner. It's a very flexible size, depending on the table on which you'd like to use it or the wall on which you may like to hang it.

My first step was to choose the fabrics I'd use for the leaves. This actually took longer than I'd expected. I decided on a palette limited to 6 different warm prints. 

After tracing as many of the leaf shapes as I could fit on to a piece of fusible paper. I use heat n bond lite and bought a bolt of it when it was on sale. If you enjoy this type of applique, a bolt is a great investment.

I cut the shapes out roughly, fused them to the back of the fabrics and spend a good bit of time with a sharp pair of pointy tip scissors cutting them out.

Can I just say that if you're in the market for some great scissors, these 6" Karen K Buckley Perfect Scissors are my absolute favourite. I've had them for years and they still cut as perfectly now as they did, they day I got them.

Once the leaf shapes were all cut out, I put those aside and decided on the actual body of the runner. I chose a natural cotton (which I already had in my stash). I cut it approximately 12" wide and to my desired length. I then sandwiched it with batting and a backing fabric and quilted it with a loopy meandering design.

Now the real fun was going to begin. I took my runner over to the pressing table and set out my leaf shapes along the middle. I tried to lay them out as to get a good mix of colour and shape, without any two same shapes or colours beside each other. When happy with the layout, I removed the backing papers and fused the shapes to the quilted table runner. 


I chose Aurifil black 50 wt cotton thread to applique the shapes. I put the feed dogs down and used my darning foot to straight stitch around each shape 2 or 3 times. The veins and leaf details were also stitched free-hand. This was by far my most favourite part of the process.

With the binding added and all of the threads snipped, this runner is now ready to use on my coffee table. Too bad I have to wait 6 months for it to be the right season here in Australia.

As promised, if you'd like to create 'The Autumn Fall' table runner using the leaf shapes that I used, HERE is the template which you can download and print for your own personal use. 

And if you do make your own, I'd love to see it. Please tag me @sameliasmum and #TheAutumnFall on Instagram or Pinterest.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about The Autumn Fall and hope that you now head on over to these blogs who are also sharing their projects today. For the full list of participants this week, please go and visit MooseStash Quilting.


Monday September 20

Creatin' in the Sticks

Samelia's Mum

Quilting Gail

Vroomans Quilts

Quilt Schmilt

38 comments

  1. You have certainly captured fall in that pretty runner.

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    1. Thanks Karen. I'll put this one away until autumn arrives here next year :)

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  2. Your runner is beautiful! Thank you for the leaf templates. I love how you sewed the leaves and acorns to the quilt and the details are my favorite.

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  3. I love it. Perfect for autumn - my favourite season too.

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  4. I so love the colors you chose and this runner is gorgeous. I love using black thread for outlining and the details. Love it!

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  5. Oh how I love your runner, and especially the way you put it together. I have just started quilting some of my projects before I add the appliques, myself. There is something about the freedom of stitching things down free-hand. I love to do that! I'm sorry you have to wait a few months to use your fabulous runner, but wish you a very happy spring and summer down under!

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  6. I'm not very good at appliqué, but I love your beautiful runner enough to try your techniques.

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  7. Beautiful table runner, and thanks so much for the left template, I am always looking for good leaves! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  8. Your runner is amazing. Thank you for the templates.

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  9. Wonderful table runner! And thanks for the mini tutorial!

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  10. What a beautiful table runner with all those leaves! I love the scattered look you created. Thank you for sharing!

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  11. Thank you for the FREE template - maybe I'll make a table runner as well - thank you :)

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  12. That looks great I love your leaves

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  13. I love the look of your table runner, and especially like the black thread you stitched with.

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  14. Your runner looks great. Just right for Autumn. Hugs, xx

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  15. Thanks for sharing. I've never used fuse and bond, but you make it look so easy. Are there any tricks or tips for using it? Your runner is stunning and perfect for fall. I know my mom would love one like that but I've got 30 projects going on right now (I'm guessing.) Maybe one day I'll give that fuse and bond a try.

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  16. Like you Autumn 🍂 is my favourite season and the table runner is a perfect for the season.

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  17. That's an adorable table runner. Your choice of fabrics was perfect. Loved how you stitched the shapes down - the extra times around made the leaves pop. And...the hand-embroidery added lots of dimension. Thanks for the templates.

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  18. Very pretty and perfect for this blog hop!! xx

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  19. That’s a wonderful table runner

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  20. Thanks for sharing your template. It is close to Fall here and this will be an easy project.

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  21. Beautiful runner! I love it--the way the leaves are scattered across it is really neat--and I like the way you quilted it first before appliqueing the leaves.

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  22. What a great idea for a runner and a fantastic result!

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  23. Beautiful! Love the hand stiched veins.

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  24. Awesome table runner and I love your quilting!

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  25. Such a pretty Autumn runner, Anorina, and SEW perfect for the Hop!!

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  26. You did such a good job with this! I know, from experience, that after the tedium of pressing, fusing, and detail-cutting out the shapes, that quilting the fused pieces is a ton of fun! I believe Emma Jean Jansen calls it piece-liqué. It's a quick way to appliqué if raw edge quilting is acceptable. I'm not sure I'd want to piece-liqué a big, usable quilt, using this method. Love it for your pretty table runner though. You did such a nice job with it. Maybe you should be making a spring one? :-)

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    1. I was wondering what to make for my crafters edge project this month and you've just given me the inspiration! A spring table runner. Thank you for the idea Linda xx

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  27. Your have created beautiful Hello to fall. I so love the addition of the acorns. They are perfect.

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  28. What a beautiful table runner for autumn! Thank you for sharing.

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  29. I love your runner Anorina, I'm pretty sure I'd be tempted to use it for more than just Autumn...!

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  30. wow, that's just exquisite! great job on it!!

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  31. Thank you for the template. Your runner is beautiful.

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  32. Your table runner is just lovely, Anorina. xx

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  33. Absolutely lovely! Fall is my fave season too and your make is just perfect for this time of year!:)

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  34. You captured fall very well - love all your leaves

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