Ribbon roses

I've made a few of these recently, they work great as hair accessories, broaches etc and are super easy and cheap to make!

What you need:

• Scissors
• Needle and matching thread
• Ribbon approx 75cm (though you can use more/less for different size roses), you can use any width of ribbon, the thicker it is the bigger the flower. 
• broach pin / hair slide etc
• 15 minutes

1. Start by tying the thread to the end of the ribbon

 

2. Fold the verticle edge down to meet the horizonal edge, twist together and put a few stitches in place to keep it tight. This will form the center of your rose

 

3. Take the loose end and fold the ribbon as shown in the picture below, creating a folded point,  and add a stitch at the bottom joining the fold with the original knot.

This is what the underside will start to look like:

4. Keep repeating until you have run out of ribbon!
5. You may find that your rose starts looking a little floppy or loose:

That's easily fixed by turning it over, pinching the center and wrapping a few stitches around and through it.

Which will then tighten up the flower, and often make the petals a little more 'organic' in shape;

6. When you reach the end of your ribbon, cut the end so it fold perfectly into the center and stitch in place

7. Turn over to reveal your lovely rose!

Honestly it's that simple!

A quick tip to keep you ribbon ends neat and tidy: immediately after you cut your ribbon quickly run the end through a flame (lighter, candle etc) keep it quick enough to seal the edge but not long enough to singe the end! Though this only works on ribbons made from man made fibres. Cotton and metallic based ribbons won't have the same effect. If they really fray badly you could always add a small row of blanket stitches or a very tiny hem. But you'll find that if you tack the end piece down well enough, it shouldn't start to fray anyway!

The question is now, how to I fix it to stuff? (hair, clothes etc). Well readers there are several methods which I've used recently, there are plenty more, but these are ones I have pictures for and have tried myself!

1. Crocodile clips. The first picture below is a headpiece I made for a burlesque outfit, which was fixed in place with two clips held in place by flelt and fabric glue (hot glue also works well). To do that take two pieces of felt, but 1 down so it fits around the clip(s) then glue to the first carefully keeping the clips in place while it dries.

You can always just stitch one in place if it's light weight:

2. Weft clips. These are little combs typically used in hair extensions, but like crocodile clips, can be bought on their own (I tend to go for bulk - 100pc - packs on ebay, but can be bought in craft stores). These are a little moe fiddly to sew, as they have very small holes, but easy after the first one!

The example below was made with 3 inch wide ribbon roses (the colour were picked to go with the butterfuly dress - to be blogged soon!), attched to a ribbon covered piece of buckram to form a solid barret, then the clip attached.

3. The other option I often use are broach clips. Easy to sew on and turn pretty much anything into a fabulous accessory! The example below is a different type of ribbon flower, closely resembling a carnation. To make: grab your length of ribbon, knot one end of your matching thread and put a running stitch all the way along the bottom of the ribbon. when you get to the end - pull. This will create an easy gather, tie off the second end. Now twist and stitch in place (similar to the rose) untill you get to the end. Easy!

OK I think I've rambled on about ribbon flowers enough now! But hopefully you have an idea of how simple and effective they are, also how quickly they can be made!

Now go forth and start using up that pile of left over ribbon!