Table Runners Made from Silk Dresses and Lace

My friend's mother passed away awhile ago. One of the things my friend held on to are her mother's silk dresses, two Asian prints and one white wedding dress, plus a synthetic material dress covered in lace. Four dresses in total.

Her mother was the size of a doll and nobody else wanted the dresses, so I think she held on to them, waiting for inspiration.

Recently she asked me to make table runners out of the dresses. I am so honored to be asked to make these and I hope I can do them justice. There is something sort of tragic about taking apart an old dress because I can see all the work that went into making it. At the same time, I'm glad it's being reused. The two Asian print dresses (one is more of a kimono) were made by her mom, the wedding dress was professionally tailored and I believe the lace covered dress was store-bought.

Here are the dresses before seam ripping:

Close ups of the fabric, as well as the wrong side of fabric, which I have to say is almost as beautiful as the right side.

Another gorgeous print:

And close up:

The white silk wedding dress:

And the lace dress:

My friend wanted a geometric, modern pattern. She also wanted 4 table runners, one for her and each of her siblings. Here's the template that I came up with (and my toes):

And here's my stack of fabric all cut up, ready to start piecing it all together:

And here is the final runner, all pieced and simply quilted. I used the lace to bind them. They measure about 4 feet in length by 1 foot width.

Here's all four:

And here they are all rolled up and ready to deliver.

Next up: pillows from an old curtain.