For those of you who know me, you know my obsession with colorful fabrics and fun patterns! There are endless possibilities to play with and these days almost anything goes! Subtly incorporated into your wedding decor, colorful patterns can add the perfect finishing touch to your overall theme.

The other night I was on Fabric Guru’s website looking for drapery fabric for my office and, because weddings are always on my mind and I love being crafty, I thought how fun and easy it would be to sew an aisle runner in a fabric that compliments your wedding colors! If you want to step outside of the box and get creative with your decor, why not give it a whirl?

A plain white carpet aisle runner rents at $100, measures 3’x20′, won’t stay put on a breezy day and may have stains on it from previous use. Polyester aisle runners do not stay put for outdoor ceremonies and, in my opinion, look better in the box than rolled out for one of the most important ceremonies celebrated in life.

All of the fabrics shown below cost less than $9 per yard. To create a 20′ aisle runner, you would need 7 yards of fabric (preferably outdoor fabric) plus a 15 yard bolt of 20″ wide Extra-Firm Sew-In Stabilizer ($59.99 at Joann Fabric). The cost comes out to be only $23 more than renting a used carpet runner! Here is an idea to make it well worth that extra $23…since the fabric is going to stay in one long piece, you could easily reuse it to make drapes or pillow covers for your newlywed nest!! Who doesn’t love new home decorations?!

No sewing machine? No problem! Grab an iron and some iron-on hem tape and voila! Piece of cake!

Here are some of my favorites from Fabric Guru for a sew-it-yourself aisle runner:

Happy Planning (and sewing)!!