Sunday, 27 November 2011

Christmas Ribbon Rosette from Craft Fairy

Here I am again with another flower project from Craft Fairy
Have you noticed how rosettes of all shapes and sizes are becoming high fashion itmas and are being worn by so many people, crafty and otherwise? This is why I've chosen to do my latest project of a ribbon rosette and I've made it in Christmas colours so that it is in time for the coming holidays.

What's even better, is that I've put together an offer for you over on the mothership ( AKA http://www.craftfairy.co.uk/ ) so that you don't have to search around for each product and you will also get a discount by buying the lot! Even better. Click here for the offer.


So let's get on with it. You will need:

16mm red with green dots grosgrain ribbon. This should be cut into 4 x 15cm lengths.
16mm willow green grosgrain ribbon cut into 6 x 10cm lengths
1 piece of satin edged chiffon in a 30 cm length. No need to cut this in to short pieces.
1 red button
1 length of strong green thread.
1 strong needle. I know that I've said this before, but when you have to sew through several layers of grosgrain you will not be able to manage with a thin needle. A thimble is also a good extra to have.

Thread your needle and lay out the cut lengths of willow grosgrain as shown.


Secure the legths of ribbon in the centre with a couple of stitches to stop them moving when you sew the next layers. Your needle should now be on the right side of the work.

 
 Take one of the 15cm strips, form a loop and center the bottom of the loop on the underneath as shown in the image. The edges should overlap about 1cm. Push the needle up through the bottom of the loop, trying to get as closely centered both lengthwise and width wise as you can.



Pull first loop down the thread to sit on top of the bottom ribbons, then repeat process for remaining 3 loops. When all are threaded, arrange  them so they are evenly spaced in a nice circular arrangement. As you will see below.


Nearly there.
Now concertina fold the satin edged chiffon so that the folds are slightly narrower than the ones below and thread the needle up through the centre. Fan the folds out and stitch into place. It is at this point that you will be glad that you have a strong needle. Sew the button into the centre of the rosette.


Last of all you will need to trim the bottom layer of ribbon
on a slant. Then seal the edges with the flame of a tea light, This is by far the safest way to do it. The open flame of the gas hob is a bit too erractic. Finished.

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Edible spooky eyes for Halloween

Halloween is coming along fast, so the communal library organized a midnight hike (well, actually it was between 7 and 9 pm) for kids. My DH and I are volunteer readers, so we had much fun reading ghost stories in the dark. A spooky hut in the woods was the perfect place for the 14 kids (plus 6 adults)... We thought that brave kids need something yummy to eat. I made skull-shaped cookies and spooky eyes. I put them in a transparent box which looked extra spooky in the beam of our torches...

The eyes are made with round sweets ("Nimm 2 Soft" in Germany - somebody told me they used Laffy Taffy or Starburst, maybe that helps).

You need:

  • Round, soft sweets

  • toothpicks

  • frosting (mix powdered sugar with a little lemon juice)

  • food coloring

  • a piece of styrofoam
Here's a little collage with the description, it should be quite self-explanatory - click to see the full-sized version :)



[Tutorial was first published in 2009]

Hope you like it! If you do, please leave a comment at my original post at my website. Thanks!
Anke

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Handmade Poinsettia Ribbon Flower Tutorial

Do you like it? I really hope that you do as I have a tutorial ready for you. This and many other ribon flower tutorials are also to be found on my Craft Fairy Designs Blog
The ribbons are available on Craft Fairy and the beads are from my stash.
If you want to make one then all that you have to do is get the follwing ready to play with.

a needle
thread
scissors
measuring tape.
Start by cutting 5, 7cm pieces of scarlet ribbon and 5, 5cm pieces.

Fold a 7cm piece in half and pinch. Where the pinches are sew together as shown.


Below you will see the two stages together so I hope that this helps.
Now fold the petal on the right side and you will have a pointed petal. If you want really sharp points then you can iron it flat. Repeat with all five petals and lay out side by side on your work space.

Sew along the edge of all of the petals as seen.

Pull the thread tight and the petals will form a circle.



Now repeat the above with 5cm pieces of ribbon and you will get a smaller flower.

Place one flower on top of the other and sew together.



Sew some gold beads to the centre and sew two pieces of teal ribbon to the back for the completed flower.

Coming next will be a 'How to' use the flowers.

Thursday, 29 September 2011

Promarker and Flexmarker video tutorial

Hi Sarah here from sarahwrightdesigns.blogspot.com



Here is a video I did showing you how to use Promarkers and Flexmarkers. I have used a Gorjuss Girl stamp which I inked with a Versafine ink pad.

I hope you find this video useful

Sarah x

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Vintage Twisted Ribbon Roses

Hello everyone, It's me, Craft Fairy with you again for another ribbon flower tutorial. This and lots more are avilable on my Craft Fairy Designs blog. I hope that you will come over and visit.

Link
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.

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Pulled thread ribbon flower

Tis tutorial is brought to you by Craft Fairy Designs and there are lots more tutorials to see on the Craft Fairy Designs blog so please pop on over to have a look.
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.

Link 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 nicely.

You 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.

Saturday, 7 May 2011

Folded Ribbon Rose Tutorial

I seem to be on a roll at the moment and I've been adding tutorials galore on my Craft Fairy Designs blog so I thought that I would add one here too.

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.