I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was when I saw that I had made it to the finalist round for the
May Arts Ribbon Design Team. So next came the fun part - designing my project for the final round - which is what I am sharing with you today.
You know I love making my own flowers - and making my own flowers with yummy May Arts Ribbons?!! Ah, it just doesn't get any better. I wanted a way to showcase a wide variety of flowers, and teach you how to make them all. My project is a mini album, which includes tags with the Reader's Digest version of the tutorials. (Don't worry, the full tutorials, with lots of pictures are all in this post).
But for now, I'll show you the book pages, with their how-to tags.
Are you ready to explore a little further? Then come on, and visit my Ribbon Garden!
Front Cover
Flowers
Velvet Cockscomb Flower
Gathered Lace Flower
Tea-dyed Sheer Frayed Flowers
Ribbon Embellished Die-cut Leaves
Ribbons
Gathered Lace Flower
Cut a length of lace about 18" long. Thread a needle and tie off around the center end of the lace.
Make running stitches down the center of the lace.
Gather tightly and tie the two ends together to form your rosette.
Add buttons or paper flowers for the center.
**The flowers on the front cover just seemed too white, so I soaked them in a strong bath of tea for a minute or so....
I also used the Sheer Frayed Flowers on the cover, and gave them the same tea treatment. Various ribbons will respond to the tea or any other dye differently.
Ribbon Embellished Die-Cut Leaves
I used this technique throughout the book, with various ribbons. Here I am showing you the burlap, but the 2.5" net did a fantastic job of adding texture to more intricate dies.
Glue your ribbon onto cardstock and let dry completely. Run through your die-cut machine as normal.
Velvet Cockscomb Flower
Take an 18" piece of 3/4" wide velvet ribbon.
Fold the ribbon in half, length-wise. Sew a running stitch along the raw edges, forming a tube. Gather the ribbon, and tie-off. Form a small circle, for the center of the flower, at one end of the gathered ribbon, and stitch into place. Reverse the direction of the ribbon, and wind around the center, and stitch into place. Continue wrapping the ribbon in a serpentine fashion, and stitching in a pleasing formation.
Flowers
Tattered Twill Flower
Ribbons
Cut a 24" piece of 1 1/2"Twill Ribbon, and cut tabs along one edge. Cut tabs on the opposite edge, but make sure they are off-set from the first side.
Fold the ribbon, a little less than half, so that the edges are off-set. Sew a running stitch along the folded bottom.
Gather the ribbon, coil the ribbon into a flower and stitch into place.
Flowers
Spider Web Rose
Rolled Rosette Flower
Ribbons
Rolled Rosette Flower
Cut a 1 1/2" circle from a sheet of Scor-Tape. Remove one side of the backing.
Starting in the center, roll the ribbon in a rosette pattern, until all of the tape is covered.
Remove the other side of the backing and attach to your project.
Spider Web Rose
Cut a 2" circle from cardboard, and find the center, and poke a hole. Take a length of twine, knot one end, and thread a needle on the other. Come up from the back of the circle, and go around the edge and back up through the hole - forming a spoke. Form a total of 9 spokes (or any odd number). Tie the twine off in the back.
Tie a knot in the end of your ribbon, thread the other end through a large needle, and bring the ribbon up through the center hole.
Start weaving the ribbon over and under the spokes. (I find this much easier to do if the ribbon is threaded through a needle). Continue until the entire circle is covered, and glue the end of your ribbon to the underside of the circle.
Page Three
Flowers
Lollipop Flowers
Ribbons
Lollipop Flowers
For each flower, cut 5 concentric circles - freehand, from wide satin ribbon.
Hold each circle carefully, beside a candle flame. This will melt and seal the satin ribbon, as well as cause the circle to cup.
Stack the circles and glue them together. Add a decorative button to the center to finish the flower.
Flowers
Rolled Rosette Flower (also on p.2)
Gathered Lace Flower (also on cover)
Ribbons
Page Five
Flowers
Five Petal Posy
Ribbons
Each flower will require 5 small, 5 medium and 5 large circles, cut from a wide satin ribbon.
Melt the edges of each of the circles, as you did for the Lollipop flowers above.
Take one of each sized circles, for each petal, and line them up with bottoms even. Pinch the grouping together and stitch to hold. When all five petals are completed, sew them together to form your flower. Add a knot of Net for the center of the flower.
Flowers
Bias Cut Satin Carnations
Ribbons
Bias Cut Satin Carnations
Take 24" of bias cut satin ribbon, and cut fringe along the edge. Vary the width and the depth of each cut. Put a small section of the ribbon between your thumb and foreginger, and gently "pluck" to remove some of the fibers.
Do this for the entire length of ribbon. Start winding the ribbon into a rosette, and stitch into place.
I hope you have enjoyed visiting my Ribbon Garden, and hope that you will be "planting" your own ribbon flowers on many projects. And thanks for sticking with me on the longest blog post I've ever written! If you are inspired to make any ribbon flowers, I would love to see them!
