This adorable Balsam Gnomes table runner quilt pattern is an easy pattern for even a beginning quilter. You can honestly sew this homemade quilt in just a few hours. This is a great holiday quilt pattern to make in a weekend!!
The pattern includes everything you need to make this quilted table runner.
Measuring 12” x 35”, this cozy quilt is the perfect size to decorate a table. Or add a sleeve to the back of the quilt, and hang these cute gnomes up on a wall!!
This quilt looks so cute with the Evergreen Wreath wall hanging! Another easy, beginner quilt pattern!!
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The Balsam Gnomes Table Runner is now available in a QUILT KIT in my Etsy shop. Get yours today!!
General Sewing Directions
The directions for this easy beginner quilt pattern are for rotary cutting, machine piecing, machine quilting, and the binding is hand-stitched to the quilt back.
Accurate cutting and sewing enhances your final product. Pin your pieces together before sewing them to ensure proper seam alignment.
Use a ¼” seam allowance. I recommend using a special presser foot with a ¼” guide if you have one for your machine. This will help you get uniform seams, and matching corners!
Follow the directions described below as you press open the seams. Each block is pressed in the opposite direction of the previous block to eliminate bulk and help seams to lay flat.
The pattern calls for machine quilting, but this quilt is so small you could easily hand quilt it!
If you’d like a printable ad-free PDF of the Balsam Gnomes Table Runner Quilt Pattern, you can get it in my Etsy Shop!
Check out the Table of Contents below to navigate to the sections of the pattern you’d like to see!
Fabric Requirements for the Balsam Gnomes Table Runner Quilt
The gnomes are created using a variety of red prints, along with white fabric for the beard and peach fabric for the nose.
The balsam trees are created using a variety of green prints, along with a little brown for the trunk.
For the background I used a variety of buttery cream prints to show off the gnomes and trees.
These gnomes would be adorable in blues too. Or maybe a palette of pink gnomes and mint green trees, or vice versa!
Have fun choosing your color palette, and remember…there are no rules!!
Red Fabric:
The total fabric needed is about ⅜ yard. However, to achieve the scrappy look of this quilt I suggest using a few different prints. Either raid your stash, or purchase a few new fat quarters.
White Fabric:
You’ll need a strip at least 5” wide, so just a little over 1/8 yard.
Peach Fabric:
The total fabric needed is less than ⅛ yard. You’ll need a strip at least 2” wide.
Green Fabric:
You’ll need a total of about ¼ yard. Use a few different prints.
Brown Fabric (tree trunks and Binding Strip):
The total fabric needed is ¼ yard.
Cream Fabric:
The total fabric needed is about ⅜ yard. However, to achieve the scrappy look of this quilt I suggest using a few different prints.
Backing Fabric:
You’ll need about ½ yard to form a 16” x 39” piece, use coordinating fabric.
Batting:
You’ll need a piece of 16” x 39” thin cotton batting (like Warm & Natural) to make this quilt.
Fusible Web (like Wonder-Under):
You’ll need a small 3” x 6” piece. You can order Wonder-Under by clicking here!
Directions for Rotary Cutting
If you’re new to quilting you may need to learn how to use a rotary cutter! You can check out my post on learning how to use a rotary cutter for cutting your quilt pattern pieces.
For some of the pattern pieces you’ll need to use a template. Click below to download the pattern templates.
The templates included in this pattern are large.
Sometimes when printing a PDF the program wants to “Shrink oversized pages”. This will cause the images to print smaller than they need to be.
If the 1” square is measuring smaller than 1” this may be the case happening to you.
To fix the problem, select the “Actual size” button. Then the 1” square should actually be 1” and the other images on the page will be printed to the accurate size!
It’s an easy fix, but one you want to make sure you’re addressing.
Red Fabric:
Cut 3 – 6 ½” x 8” rectangles and Cut 3 – 2 ½” x 7 ½” strips.
White Fabric:
Cut 3 – 4 ½” x 8” rectangles.
Sew 1 large red rectangle to 1 white rectangle along the 8” side to make an 8” x 10 ½” rectangle, press seam toward red. Repeat for all 3. Then cut 3 triangles from Template A, following layout directions on the bottom of the template.
Peach Fabric:
Cut 1 – 3” x 6” rectangle.
Fusible Web:
Cut 1 – 3” x 6” rectangle.
Iron fusible web to the back side of the peach rectangle, paper side facing up. When cooled, carefully peel off paper backing. Then use a scissors to cut 3 oval noses from Template D.
Brown Fabric:
Cut 2 – 1 ½” x 2 ½” strips.
Cream Fabric:
Cut 4 – 2 ½” x 3 ½” strips and Cut 5 triangles from Template B and Cut 5 triangles from Template C.
Green Fabric:
Cut 2 triangles from Template A.
Binding:
Cut either 3 – 2 ½” x 44” strips or Cut 6 – 2 ½” x 22” strips.
Sew strips together along 2 ½” end to form a long 2 ½” x 106” binding strip. Press seams open.
Press this strip in half lengthwise, right sides facing out, so the strip now measures 1 ¼” x 106”.
Backing:
Cut a 16” x 39” rectangle.
Batting:
Cut a 16” x 39” rectangle.
Sew the Blocks for the Balsam Gnomes Quilt
Follow the directions below for sewing the gnome blocks and the balsam blocks for the Balsam Gnome table runner quilt pattern.
Gnome Block:
Sew a cream triangle from Template B to the left side of the red/white gnome triangle. Press seam toward cream triangle.
Sew a cream triangle from Template C to the right side of the red/white gnome unit. Press seam toward cream triangle.
This unit should measure 7 ½” x 10 ½”, carefully trim if needed.
Place the peach oval nose cut from Template D on the face of the gnome. I like the nose to be mostly on the white with a little sticking above onto the red.
Press to set nose in place via directions for the fusible web. Carefully stitch ⅛” or so around the edge of the nose, 2-3 times around. Use a wider length of stitch than normally used. It’s ok if the stitching overlaps and looks a little messy, that adds to the charm of this gnome block and makes each one unique! Who knew applique was so simple?!?!
Sew the red 2 ½” x 7 ½” red strip to the bottom of the gnome beard to represent the body.
Unfinished block should measure 7 ½” x 12 ½”, trim if needed. Repeat for all 3 gnome blocks.
Balsam Block:
Sew a cream triangle from Template B to the left side of the green triangle. Press seam toward cream triangle.
Sew a cream triangle from Template C to the right side of the green triangle unit. Press seam toward cream triangle.
This unit should measure 7 ½” x 10 ½”, carefully trim if needed.
Sew a 2 ½” x 3 ½” cream strip to each side of the 1 ½” x 2 ½” brown strip, sewing along the 2 ½” sides. Press seams toward brown center.
Sew this cream/brown unit to the bottom of the green triangle so the little tree has a trunk!
Unfinished block should measure 7 ½” x 12 ½”, trim if needed. Repeat for both balsam blocks.
Pressing the Blocks
I wait to press the bottom row seams until I have each block sewn together. Be careful to just “press” and NOT “iron” the seams in a back-and-forth motion, or your quilt blocks will stretch out of shape.
Press the bottom row seam of blocks 1, 3, and 5 downward, see arrows on diagram above.
Press the bottom row seam of blocks 2 and 4 upward, see arrows on diagram above.
By using this rotating direction of pressed seams, you will have nicely nested seams and less bulk when you sew the blocks to each other.
This method of pressing distributes the bulk, which will make you happy when machine quilting your project! Bulky seams can lead to bumpy quilting patterns, broken thread, and overall unevenness of your quilt top.
Now that you have the blocks pressed, sew them together!
Pin blocks 1 and 2 together, right sides together. Make sure to line up the bottom row seams, and pin to hold them in place. Remove the pins as you come to them when you’re stitching the ¼” seam.
I like to press the seams of each set of blocks as I sew them together. The blocks all get pressed in one direction, either towards the left or towards the right. By pressing them all in one direction it will make for a uniform and smooth quilt top.
Repeat until you have all of the blocks sewn to each other and pressed.
Layering the Top, Batting, and Back
I refer to layering the quilt as “sandwiching”. You need to sandwich the top and back with the batting in the middle. For a larger quilt, this process takes a bit more time and steps. But for this small quilt, it’s a breeze to sandwich the layers together!
Tape the Backing Down
On a table or countertop, use masking or painter’s tape to tape down the backing fabric. As you tape the back to the table, you’ll want to make sure the fabric is smooth, without wrinkles. Also, make sure the right side of the fabric is facing down!
Add the Batting
Lay the batting on top of the taped-down quilt back, and move your hands across it to smooth it all over. This will get rid of any wrinkles in the batting, and help to adhere it to the backing fabric.
Place the Quilt Top
Once you have the batting placed on top of the quilt back, center the quilt top over the two bottom layers. Right side facing up, of course! The two bottom layers of the quilt (the back and the batting) should extend about 2” all around the outside edges of the quilt top.
Move your hands across the quilt top to smooth it all over, and help remove any wrinkles. This will also help adhere the quilt top to the batting a little bit.
Baste the Layers
Once you have the top of the quilt all smoothed out, use large safety pins to baste all three layers together. I like to use 1 ½” stainless pins, and I keep them all in a cute old canning jar that was my grandma’s.
Put a pin in each corner of the quilt sandwich and around the entire quilt every 4-5 inches so the three layers don’t move around when you’re machine quilting this project. You really don’t want to use more pins than this or you’ll be needing to stop a lot when you’re quilting to remove pins, which upsets the mojo of your quilting rhythm, lol!
“Quilting” the Balsam Gnomes Table Runner Quilt
I used a cute swirly cinnamon bun design to machine quilt my layers together. I avoided quilting over the noses!
Use whatever free-motion stitch you’d like. You’ll need a darning foot to free-motion quilt, and you’ll need to either be able to lower the feed dogs on the machine or place a special cover over them. If you’re using a straight stitch to machine quilt you’ll need a walking foot.
Here is a video showing how to machine quilt using the cinnamon bun design.
As an alternative, you can hand-quilt these layers together too.
Binding the Balsam Gnomes Table Runner Quilt
When you’ve finished quilting the layers together, it’s time to bind the edges of your Balsam Gnomes table runner quilt! I’ll do my best to describe the binding process below.
Here is a quick video showing the process of how to sew binding on a quilt!
Use the binding strip that you prepared from the Directions for Rotary Cutting section above.
Sew the Binding Strip to the Quilt
Begin to sew the raw edge of the binding to the quilt by pinning it along one side. Be careful to sew the raw edge of the binding strip to the quilt, not the folded edge!
I usually start sewing the binding strip in the middle of the quilt side that I’m starting with. Start sewing about 5” in from the end of the binding strip, leaving a hanging “tail” on the binding. You’ll sew this to the end of the binding strip when you finish sewing all along the sides of the quilt.
Stop sewing on the first side ¼” from the corner, use a pin to mark this location and sew right up to it. Backstitch a bit, and cut your thread but DON’T cut the binding strip.
Making the Mitered Corner
Now, remove the quilt and binding strip from your machine and fold the binding strip straight up so it’s perpendicular from the side you were just sewing on.
Fold the binding strip back down on itself and match it to the edge of the quilt you just sewed it to, and the next edge of the quilt you’re about to sew it to. Pin this fold in place, and pin the binding strip to this edge of the quilt and continue to sew it, again stopping ¼” from the next corner and repeating the folding process described above.
Continue in this manner until you are on the last side of the quilt, the side you started on.
Connecting the Ends of the Binding
Stop stitching about 6” from where you started. Backstitch and cut the thread (but not the binding strip, not yet!). Remove the quilt and binding strip from the machine.
You now have two “tails” of the binding strip, one from where you started stitching it to the quilt and one from where you just stopped. You’ll need to join these tails together so that you have a continuous binding strip to finish sewing down to the quilt. This can be tricky!
Place the tails of the binding strip so they meet in the middle of the section of the quilt that the binding still needs to be sewn to. Fold these binding strips over on themselves and finger press. Cut ¼” toward the outside of each of the folds. Pin and sew the ends together with a ¼” seam (right sides together). Finger press the seam open.
Continue to sew the now continuous binding strip to the quilt.
Trim the Batting and Back
Trim the batting and quilt back to ¼” from the edge of the quilt top. I use a ruler and a rotary cutter to accomplish this task. Work carefully, so you don’t cut into your quilted project.
Hand-Stitch the Folded Binding Edge to the Quilt Back
Here is my FAVORITE part of the process, hand-sew the folded edge of the binding strip to the back of the quilt. When you get to the corner, carefully turn the corner right-side out to make a nice, mitered corner. I tack a few stitches up the corner to hold it in place, and then continue stitching along all sides and corners until…VOILA! Your binding is complete!
If you’d like, you can add a label to the back of your quilt.
Have fun making this Balsam Gnomes table runner quilt pattern!
I’d love to see your finished work!!! Tag @lakegirlquilts on Instagram if you post your finished product!!!
Happy quilting!!!
Bonnie
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