While I was lolling at the beach last week, the folks at Sew4Home were hard at work and posted a tutorial I had written for them before I left for vacation. Click here to see the complete tutorial for how to make a ribbon petal cockade, similar to the one featured on the cover of my book How to Make 100 Ribbon Embellishments.
Ribbon Petal Cockade
This cockade is built with three layers of ribbon sewn to a buckram circle. The first row is made with folded loops.
Row 1 – Folded Ribbon Loops Stitched to a Buckram Circle
The next row is comprised of overlapped ribbon loops.
Row 2 – Overlapped Ribbon Loops Stitched Between the Folded Loops of Row 1
A gathered rosette fills in the center and covers all the raw ribbon ends of the loops..
The Third Layer is a Gathered Ribbon Rosette Stitched to the Center to Cover all the Ends of the Ribbon Loops
And a coordinating decorate button is sewn to the center of the cockade to cover the center of the gathered rosette.
I get such a kick out of Liz Johnson of sew4home.com when she calls me the “ribbon whisperer”. That just makes me giggle. Actually, I don’t think I am the one doing any whispering to make the ribbons do what I want them to do. In every case, the ribbons are doing the talking (much louder than a whisper!).
These three beautiful Amy Butler ribbons by Renaissance Ribbons were actually shouting to be made into this large cockade. These beautiful coordinates are woven jacquard ribbons with a pronounced right and wrong side. So I knew that I had to select techniques that would only allow the front of the ribbons to be visible in the completed embellishment.
Other techniques incorporate folding and manipulation where both sides of the ribbon will show. Solid vintage Petersham ribbons, have a wonderful “hand” and pleat beautifully so they “whisper” to be made into folded ribbon cockades or manipulated trims. Woven stripes also appear the same on both sides and work for these types of techniques.
Folded and Manipulated Ribbon Cockades and Trims
I invite you to take a look at the techniques featured in How to Make 100 Ribbon Embellishments. Then go and listen to the ribbons in your stash and see what they are “whispering” to become.
Inspirations... Stitch by Stitch 