Monday, January 28, 2008

Gathered Ribbon & Ribbon Rosette Tutorials

I wanted to share what I did to add interest to the ribbon and to make the center rosette of the Heartfelt Flower card posted earlier today. I've seen a lot of beautiful ribbons lately that are slightly gathered & I love that look. I've purchased one or two, but needed black today so decided I'd just make my own!

Gathered Ribbon Tutorial
I used an inexpensive 5/8" black sheer ribbon approximately 11" long to go with my pink/black theme.
I simply centered the cut ribbon strip under the presser foot on my beloved old Singer sewing machine, set the straight stitch length to 3 1/2", lowered my needle into the center of the ribbon and simply guided it through to the end of the ribbon. A basting stitch would work fine; I went a little smaller here since the ribbon is so sheer. You'd probably want to use the largest stitch available for a tighter-woven ribbon. I'm anxious to try this on other ribbons now!


Next, tie a secure knot in the threads at one end of your ribbon. I always tie a triple knot; I don't want it to come undone in the process of finishing whatever I'm working on!


Then simply begin gathering by pulling the top thread only from the untied end of the ribbon. The thread should pull easily. You may gather it as tightly or loosely as you prefer; I wanted mine to be only slightly/loosely gathered.
Then simply adjust your gathers by pushing them along the ribbon as evenly as you wish to from end to end.
When I had it gathered as I wished, I simply secured the ribbon end to the back side of my cream linen paper strip on the right edge with a big glue dot and then again on the left edge.
That's all there is to it!

Ribbon Rosette Tutorial:
As I was gathering my ribbon I realized that if I gathered it very tightly, it would curl up and form into a rosette. I decided it would make an awesome center for my bleached flower, but I needed a narrower ribbon for this flower. I took a 2 1/2" piece of 3/8" black sheer ribbon & simply stitched, tied and gathered it just as I'd done it above, only very tightly, forming the rosette. I then tied both ends tightly together, snipped the threads and used a couple of glue dots to secure the rosette & threads so they wouldn't show & popped it onto my flower center!
Here's the finished card again; if you have any questions, please leave a comment & ask. I'll be glad to try to help you!

14 comments:

Kelly said...

What a great idea! Thanks for the tutorial (and sharing the great pink and black card). :)

JB-Crafting Supplies said...

Great idea Marge!

Julie
SBS-8

Kathy W said...

great tutorial, thanks for sharing. you scared me at first when I saw the sewing machine, I haven't pulled mine out in 8 years!

My Paper World said...

Wow! That's great! Thanks for sharing!

Dawn Wheeler said...

wow thanks so much for sharing this ,
i just found you for lisa blog and i am so glad i did ,Dawnx

Gwen said...

OH...I thought you bought it that way!! will you make me some??? I don't know how to work my sew maching..Tee Hee Hee!!!

Anonymous said...

ohhh, how very beautiful that looks.

Kay SBS8

Etha said...

Wow that is gorgeous, I really like the black!! thanks for showing us how you did that!!

Han said...

Thanks so much for this I am going to have a go but I might need some extra lessons :):) xx

Caryn Creations said...

Cool Card!! That's an awesome idea with the ribbon.. Now only if I knew how to sew :) I have a machine but don't know how to work it.. :) I have another reason to get the darn thing out and mess with it.. So inspiring in many ways Marge

Su Davis said...

Marge - thanks for sharing this - I can't wait to have a go with all that black ribbon I have. I'll let you know how I get on!

Su

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful! Funny how I can't seem to combine my sewing knowledge with my stamping/scrapping unless somebody else shows it to me - so thank you!
Love your blog!
~Mary

mel m. m. mccarthy said...

Wow this is SO gorgeous in the organza; what a brilliant idea! Thanks for sharing such a super tutorial. :0) Mel

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