Sweetpea Swap and Ribbon flower Tutorial

Last post I showed you the wonderful folder sent to me by the very talented Ngaere. Below are photos of the door hanger/ note holder that I made as part of the SweetPea Stamp Swap through the GGS swap site.

 I received the stamped image called 'Wishful Thinking, which was a delightful winged fairy. I decided to use the 'thinking' part of the title to base my creation on.

 Hence the words on my hanger...Sshh..I'm thinking Fairy carefully.

Our 'creation' could be anything at all using our stamped image,, the only stipulation was that it had to be 3D, which suited me just fine because I love to create layers on any project!

One of the ladies wanted to know how I made the ribbon rose. so I will try and explain this as best I can, with the help of lots of photos....

1 - Take a length of ribbon ( I have never measured but I would guess that it needs to be at least 9 inches long, it does not matter if its longer as I snip the spare length off latter on).

2 - Take a needle and thread and fold  over one end of the ribbon, secure the end with a stitch or two.

 3 - Fold the ribbon back onto its self so that you are overlapping the turned over edge slightly (see the photo below). Once again secure with a stitch along the bottom edge. ( looks like the top in my photo but that's just because I've turned it upside down so you can see it better).

 4 - Carry on folding back and securing your length of ribbon, fold by fold.

 5- I stop once my folded ribbon gets to about 4 inches long. If your using wider ribbon you may want to make yours a little longer.

6- Snip off the spare length of ribbon and turn the frayed end under, stitch roughly in place, just to keep it looking tidy.

 7 - Begin to roll your length of folded ribbon and using the same thread catch the fabric with stitches as you go (this is to hold the rolled ribbon in place.)

 8- Keep rolling, and stitching  all the way to the end.

 9 - Once you reach the end tie off your thread

10 - Now simply flip your ribbon over....and volla, you have your ribbon rose.

If any of that does not make sense please PLEASE let me know  :-)

I'm sure many of you have other ways of making flowers, I just sat playng with a length of ribbon one night as I watched tele, and that's what I come up with. Id love to see YOUR ideas.

Thanks for looking