The 12 Crafts of Christmas – No. 2: The table linen

For the second of my 12 Crafts of Christmas, I'm sharing a super simple and effective way of creating festive linen for your Christmas table! To make a runner like the one above, all you need is some masking tape, Blu-tak, and of course, some of my paint, Chalk Paint® and fabric. I used my Pure Linen fabric and chose a palette of Burgundy, Scandinavian Pink and Old White – a colour combination inspired by Carl Larsson's very traditional Swedish paintings. 

I made another table runner with Kirstie Allsopp at the Handmade Christmas Fair in Manchester, UK, a couple of weeks ago. We used Olive-dyed Pure Linen (see this post to find out how to dye fabric with Chalk Paint) and my Antheia stencil (applied using my new Sponge Rollers). This is a no-sew table runner, so really couldn't be simpler. I let the fabric edges of the runner fray a little – I love the rustic effect!

Another really fun and simple project that you could try is painting a napkin for your Christmas table.
For this you can use one of my stencils to create patterns and images on the linen. I particularly like the way that sections of my Bell Flowers stencil can be used and overlapped to create a poinsettia-like image. Experiment with different designs in my range – I think Petrushka or Tallulah could be very festive, too. I edged my napkins using fabric tape which I stencilled in the obligatory red and green (or Olive and Emperor’s Silk!) using my Circles and Bell Flowers stencils. Simply fold the tape over the napkin edge and a basic running stitch using embroidery thread, or even wool will secure it in place. Of course, you could use any pretty fabric scraps you may have to hand for your own finishing touch.

If you already follow me on social media you may know I was in Poland last week. Such a beautiful place, and I just adore the way they use colour. I have to include this example of stencilling on Pure Linen from a workshop I did with Polish bloggers. No, it’s not a traditional Christmas design but wouldn’t it make a lovely present?

Thinking of trying this project out at home? Remember to share your projects with me!

Yours, Annie