Wire Ribbon Rose Tutorial

There are several ways to do wire ribbon roses...and here is one of my methods.

Step One: Cut about 30 inches of wire ribbon. Any width ribbon will work, the wider the ribbon...the larger the rose. The photos are of wire ribbon that is about 1 3/4 inches wide. 

Step Two: Remove the wire from one side of the ribbon.

Step Three: Fold one short end of the ribbon about 1/2 inches, and roll that same end several turns to form the center of the rose. With needle and thread, take a few stitches at the non-wire side of the roll to hold the center of the flower together.

Step Four: Anchor your thread with a couple of tiny stitches. Don't cut the thread. Stitch a running stitch down the entire length of the ribbon...on the side without the wire.

Step Five: Pull the thread to gather up the rose. It will naturally start to curl and twist because of the side with the wire still intact. Fold the end of the ribbon and stitch across it. Take a few small stitches to hold the gathers in place. You can now trim your thread.

When you hold it by the end, it will look a bit like a loose Slinky style spring.

Step Six: This step is a little tricky. Hold on to the center of the rose (the rolls) and wrap the gathered part around and around the center. Don't let go of it...When you have wrapped the rose "petals" to your liking (loose or tight is a personal preference). Take a few stitches on the under-side to hold all of it into place temporarily.

Step Seven: Determine if you want any leaves around your blossum. Ribbon,velvet, or lace ones are good candidates. 

 

Step Eight: Using a small piece of foundation fabric...(I used a square of needlepoint canvas because it is coarse and will hold it's shape) place the flower and leaves on the fabric and stitch them in place. Hide your stitches within the gathers on the flower, and under it's petals for the leaves. The canvas size is about 2 inches square to begin with. This photo shows it leaning against the flower...not stitched.

 Step Nine: After stitching, trim the foundation fabric close to the stitching...so as to remove the excess.

 Step Ten: (Optional) Add artificial flower stamens by folding them and inserting them around the center fold and stitching in place. Or, include them around the center fold before you start to wrap your gathered petals around the center.

Also: Tiny flowers can be created by using about 2 ft of ribbon. Fold both ends to hide the raw edges. Stitch a running stitch down the center and gather.

These are fun to create and easy too!

I like flowers placed on lace to add even more texture. Hope you enjoy trying these!

Bonus Thimble

Along with the Swan Thimble for this month (previous post)...here is a bonus thimble for fall!

First Thursday Thimble - November

This month's thimble design is a beautiful and graceful swan...hope you enjoy her!

 

I Was In the Hospital...

eight years ago today...sitting by my daughter's bedside. We were waiting for the arrival of my darling grand-daughter, Aidan. I can hardly believe that she is eight years old today! 

 Time sure is flying by!This past week we've been busy dying lace and now, I'm trying to get more cabochons beaded. Here is what I have so far...

And here is what I have remaining to do! 

 But, there won't be much accomplished today...cause it's a special Birthday!! Hear me singing?...Yeah, it's pretty off key! Ha!

Ruby's Roses Roses Roses Block

 I finished my work on Ruby's block for the Roses, roses, roses Round Robin on Crazy Quilters International Yahoo Group. 

 The beginning was some silk ribbon rose buds to direct the eye. These went up to the tatted doily that had already been placed on the block by ruby.

Next came a button cluster to balance the size and color of the gorgeous wire rose done by Cathy L. in the round before mine.

Then, a seam treatment with more pink and clay roses.

Lastly, bits of lace and a large button to fill in space under the seam line, and to keep the eye moving around the block.

Hopefully, you'll agree that I've done a good job of continuing the movement in the block from the heart at the upper left corner, to the wire rose, to the button cluster, and along the seam to the right of the block. Now, the next person has the job to continue the path with their own beautiful work!

Dragonfly Garden - Daffodils

Almost done with the daffodils. Two still need petals. They has light cream ones...but the background fabric was showing through too much, so I removed them. Have to find some white fabric that is thick enough to keep the background from showing. Guess it's time to go shopping!

 

Relaxation and Beauty

Aidan and I spend a restful weekend dying some lace. She also put a considerable amount of time to learning to write in cursive letters...and is very proud of that! Her birthday is this Wednesday, 8 years old, and she is growing up so quickly! 

Her lace was mostly a mis-match of dark colors...nothing I'll ever be able to use. But, it's only lace..and down the road...I can always dye her pieces dark red or blue! Ha! But for now, we have plenty in the colors that I can use.

And a few really special favorites as well.

So, it was a good dying session all things considered.

French Script Saturday - S

 

Wired Flowers

More adornments...for the Dragonfly Quilt. There will be tons of stuff before I'm finished next year. It's nice to be working on a long-term project...especially one that has been in my head for some time now. I like the vintage quality of these wired florals...and the use of the lace leaves. A stem still needs to be created, and they will be grouped on a piece of lace perhaps...when they get stitched into place.But, for now...they'll just sit in my ribbon drawer...awaiting the creating of more.

Dragonfly Blinged Out!!

The dragonfly is almost done. A row of tiny seed beads is still needed to be stitched around the tail; the water soluble needs to be soaked off, and the blue felt needs to be trimmed away.  Then, his new home has to be completed...on the Dragonfly Garden quilt...and he needs to be stitched down with another outside row of beads perhaps.Perhaps it is a she? With all this bling...And, yes...it is large. But, the quilt will be too; so the scale will be fine for that project.

BOHO Fever

If you haven't seen it yet...Pat Winters has a new BOHO book just released! Her bohemian bags are just gorgeous...I know because I am the very proud owner of a beautiful pink one! And her instructions are  easy to understand so you can construct your own. So, hop over to her blog for all the instructions on ordering her book today!

Wednesday Wine Country Monograms - S

 

Just Cosmetics...

I made some minor cosmetic changes to the blog design...and I hope that it loads faster for those with slower DSL or Dial-up

Tulips Base Block Complete

Well, I was able to get the heads on the tulips finished yesterday. Now the base block is complete, ready for the sheer overlay fabric and all/any other embellishments along the path. But, before that step...the other base blocks need to be done. My eyes get tired more quickly working on the light table. So, the second block awaits me today!I did spend a little time working some more on the huge beaded dragonfly. Do you remember it? Here is where we left off...