Ribbon Flower HOW TO!

One of the ladies on a Yahoo group I am a member of was wanting to know how to make these very cute ribbon flowers.  I have been trying to find a use for small pieces of scrap ribbon and so was born this how to!


CHOOSE YOUR FLOWER SIZE:  The only cute center I had on hand was a 1 inch cover button so I opted for a 2.5 inch flower!


CUT YOUR RIBBON PIECES: I am using 3/8 inch grosgrain ribbon. I opted for 11 petals so I started by cutting 11 pieces of  Fuschia 2.5 inches long, then 11 pieces of Dark Purple 2 inches long and then 11 pieces of turquoise 1.5 inches long.  Now you have all these crazy pieces of ribbon lying around!  You could use a wood burner to cut your pieces and seal them in this step.  I have a little one and usually can't use my wood burner so I substitute a lighter later on!

STACK YOUR RIBBON PIECES: Take one of each color place the longest piece on the bottom and stack.  My stack looks like this...fuschia, dark purple and turquoise.  Then fold each piece in half so all the ends match up. I then take my lighter and heat seal all the edges at once.  This is a simple step, just run the lighter along the ends of the ribbon until you see some melting action happen!  Once you see the ribbon melting you have sealed the edges!

SEW YOUR RIBBON PIECES: Now get that needle and thread ready.  I use upholstery thread because it's stronger than regular thread and it's what I have on hand since I use it to sew all my bows!  Simply run the needle through the base of the ribbon stack and tie it in a knot a few times.  Now you have your first petal!  Now make the rest of your petals.  I made 11 for my given flower!

ASSEMBLE YOUR PETALS:  With needle and thread ready, tie a knot at the end of your thread, I like to leave a good bit so it makes tying the whole thing together easier.  Run your needle through the base of each petal, try to stay close to the middle of the base and close to the edge.  After you run it through all the petals, make sure you have what looks like a flower, you might have to flip some petals around.  Then simply pull the thread tight and tie a few knots.

Your flower should look something like this now!

ADD A BACK: I found a plain jane button and centered it on the back of my petals used some hot glue and added it.  It is a tad hard to see in this pic but it is there! Looking for a brown button!

ADD A CUTE CENTER: I flipped the flower over so the front was facing me and added hot glue to the middle blank spot of the flower.  I want to give it extra stability.  I allowed all this glue to dry then I added my center.  I got my bright yellow fabric covered button and hot glued it to the front. 

Now add your clip.  You can add whatever you want here: a pin back, an alligator clip, a small french clip.  Simply glue it to the plain jane button on the back. You're finished!  
Try some different lengths and different color combos and see what you can come up with.  The possibilities are endless.
As usual please don't mind the pics they were taken by me with my iphone.
I will be writing How to Articles for a local magazine so I will have a professional photographer, no more bad pics! YIPPEE!


Feel free to post pics of your creations or questions you might have!