Vintage twisted ribbon roses

I've noticed that these twisted roses are appearing on many cards and sewing projects lately so I thought that I would bring you all a project and a video on how to do them. I've used fairly bright, well, very bright ribbon to make them as they can be shabby chic, but they can also be vivid and fashionable.

What You’ll Need:

Ribbon – at least 16mm wide

The one that I used here is the 23mm wide swiss dot grosgrain.

16mm satin ribbon in willow

a needle and thread
Cut a length of ribbon, about 30 to 45cm long. The longer (and wider) your ribbon, the larger your rose will be.
Tie a knot at one end of the ribbon, this will be the center of the rose.

Knot the end of the thread and secure it to the base of the knot.

Start twisting your ribbon and stitch it into place around the knot.

Carry on twisting the ribbon and sew it onto the rose that is developing.
Below is what it should look like from the front at this stage.
Keep on twisting and sewing until you have the size of rose that you want.

Once all the ribbon is wound up and secured, tuck the ends underneath and sew them into place with a few small stitchesKnot your thread, trim it, and you’re done
Now for the leaves. They are really simple too.

Take a length of the green satin ribbon and sew along one edge as shown. The longer the length the bigger the leaf. As a rule of thumb, your ribbon should be about two and a half times the width of the finished rose.
Pull the thread gently until you have gathered the ribbon as shown below.Stitch the ribbon together along the middle and then stitch it to the back of your rose and there you have it. Now you can make a card or far better brighten up a jumper or a hat.

Ribbon Flower Number 2

Well, the last post on ribbon flowers seems to have gone down really well, so, I've decided to post another type of ribbon flower for you all. Just in case you all think that I can't use anything other than pink, I've made this one in blue.

I did stoop to pink for the thread that I used to gather the ribbon. I did this for a purpose though as it is easier to see in the photographs.

Decide on the number of petals that you want. I used 5. The more petals, the bigger the hole that will be left in the middle to cover up with a button or a stamen of some sort. You'll see what I mean as we progress.If you decide on 5 petals than the length of ribbon used to make each petal should be 2 1/2 times the width of the ribbon. Yes maths!
Made simple
Ribbon = 16mm
Length required for each petal = 40mm
5 petals = 200mm or 20 cm.
Leave an extra cm or 2 for the folding over of the edges. You can always cut off any excess but you can't get it if it isn't there.
So you will need a piece of 16mm ribbon that is about 22 cm long.

Place the ribbon on the table in front of you. The side furthest from you is the inner edge and the one closes to you is the outer edge of the flower.
Mark the ribbon into sections on the inner edge. On a 16mm ribbon these ehould be every 40mm.
Using a running stitch sew along the ribbon as shown in the photograph. Remember to loop the thread over the outer edge of the ribbon when you get to the top of each section. Sew your 5 sections. End with the thread at the outer edge of the ribbon.

Start to pull the thread. You will see the ribbon curl up in front of you. Don't panic. Keep on pulling gently until the petals emerge. The reason for looping the thread over the ribbon is that it pulls the petal into the centre nicelyYou will end up with this curly mess that you see below. Tease it out and you will see the petals. Make sure that the thread is pulled as tightly as possibe without breaking the thread so that the gap in the center is as small as possible. The two inner edges of the flower should be brought together and stitched to hold them in place.

Turn the raw wdges to the back of the flower and stitch in place. Sew a button into the center to cover the unsightly bit.

How Annoying

I can't tell you how annoying Blogger can sometimes be. I tried and tried to post a picture of the card that I make on the video but it simply wouldn't let me so here it is on a separate post.


For details on how to draw the daisies and make the card please watch the video.

How to Draw daisies with calligraphy pens

I've made another video at last and I hope that it is as well received as the last one.

Folded ribbon rose tutorial

A couple of weeks ago I asked if your 'could guess what it is yet?' I thought that I could get on and make a tutorial straight away but I have been so busy that it has taken me until now to do a very straight forward tutorial. So I've decided that I will put you out of your misery straight away, by showing you that the tutorial will be for a folded ribbon rose. The title of the post rather gave it away though. As I told you before you will need the shocking pink 23mm wide grosgrain for this and I used the swiss dot one as I wanted to have the contrast between the plain side and the dotty side. You can make a plain one if you want to but this looks kind of cute.

You will need to start by rolling a short section of the ribbon and securing it with a couple of stitches. Stitching is better than gluing as it will held in place and then, if you want to put it on a garment you can wash it without being afraid that it will fall apart. This roll will be your bud.

Next fold the ribbon at a 90 degree angle to the roll as shown below.Roll the ribbon around the central bud until you get to the end of the folded part. It will be obvious when you do it. Secure the bottom with a couple of stitches. ,Fold and roll again and again. See below. Make sure to put in a couple of stitches as you go.Below is what your rose should look like after you have folded a few times.Now look at the back and you will see how this is coming along, and where to put the stitching. Basically you keep on going until you have as many petals as you want. The cut you r ribbon and tuck the raw wdge under and tack into place. Turn over and your ribbon is done.

Pincushion for a competition

Today, I'm posting a set of instructions to make a pincushion. I am making this as I am going to enter it for a WI competition in the summer. So. as I was going to do it for this, I thought that I might as well do the instructions and blog it as well. Being in posession of a huge choice of ribbons I really had no choice but to use them. All the ribbons that you see here are available from craftfairy.co.uk

Here is the finished cushion. I know that it is really girly and over the top kitch but who cares. I thought that if I was going to go for a domestic goddess kind of thing I might as well go over the top. 1950's at least. I even feel a frilly apron coming on. Perhaps not today though.

So. if you want to make something like this you will need to do some ribbon weaving first. This really is a good way to use up your scraps too as it only requires short lengths. the sort that are usually too short to be used for anything else.

Cut yourself a piece of fuisable interfacing about 2cm larger than the finished size of the pinchshion. E.g. if your pinchshion is to be 50cm x 50cm then cut your square 51cm x 51cm. I used a lightweight interfacing as I wanted the finished cushion to be soft not stiff.

Put the interfacing on the ironing board, fuisable side up. If your don't do it this way your will fuse it to the board. Lay your ribbons out in a pattern and pin to the ironing board over the interfacing.

Cut your lengths of ribbon so that they extend beyond the size of the backing fabric. You will trim them later so don't worry about being too precise. I used a mixture of widths and patterns but to keep the design looking good I used only three harmonizing colours. Pink, blue and a touch of white in the pattern. Lay them vertically over the interfacing.

Now weave the same pattern of ribbon in the horizontal direction as shown.

You should end up with what you see below. Push the ribbons together so that there are no gaps showing and pin in place. You will need to do this or the ribbon will move when you iron it.

Cover the ribbon weaving with a cloth and press with the iron. Do not use steam. This will create enough adhesion to allow you to flip the ribbon weave over and then press again to cause a better adhesion and create your fabric. See below. Now, flip the fabric over, and iron from the back. This will ensure that the ribbons stick to the interfacing really well.

Now, take a length of sewing thread with a knot in one side and sew a running stitch along one edge of the ribbon very close to the edge. When you have reached the end pull the thread to gather it to approximately the length of your 4 sides combined. 40 cm in my case. Secure the end of the thread.

Pin to the right side of the edge of the ribbon fabric. Tack the ribbon in place very near the edge. You will not reallt have a seam allowance on the ribbon. No need to have one really as the ribbon has a sewn edge should not frey. There will be a seam allowance on the ribbon fabric though.

Cut a piece of backing fabric that is the same size as the interfacing. I used a little broiderie anglais that I had in my scraps basket. With right sides together and the ribbon in the middle like a sandwich sew around three sided of the pincushion. I did this by hand as it really is too fiddly to even contemplate sewing on the machine.

When you have done this turn the pincushion around to the right side and fill with kapok or any other stuffing that you have. I had some left over from goodness knows when. Sew the last side into place from the back of the cushion and you have done.

Craft Fairy at Ally Pally

It's that time of year again when Craft Fairy will be at Ally Pally. I have to say that it's out favourite venue. It is all dedicated to paper craft.... no garlic graters anywhere! I exhibit and demo, but I also have a mooch around for things to buy for myself too. Ally Pally is one of those shows that always has something to temp you. Last year I bought some Marianne dies for threding ribbon on to. Well, I would! This year, who knows. One word though, if you're coming and want to buy something from me then please let me know before I leave tomorrow. So many peole come to me and say, 'you have those ....' and unfortunately I've not brought them with me. So mail me please.

How to draw a flower with calligraphy pens

Well, I've finally done it. While at the NEC last week, I told lots of people that I would make a video of flower drawing and this is the result. It's my first effort so be kind. I will make more. By then I will probably have figured out better lighting too!

Can you guess what it is yet?

I thought that for, this post, I would keep you guessing.

If you want to play along with me though you will need a length of swiss dot grosgrain ribbon in 23mm width. I used shocking pink so click here to get it.

Our Stand at Stitches

Putting together a stand for a show is hard enough work at the best of times, but the stand at Stitches was even more difficult as we were aiming for pretty. We wanted to get rid of the awful grey background so we coverd it with fabric bought from Bridgend Fabrics and we chose a spotty one to reflect the packaging that is used for Craft Fairy products.