Tutorial: Ribbon Roses

I need to describe a technique for an upcoming project, so I thought I would post a tutorial on Ribbon Roses. These are super fun to make, and I've posted a couple projects in the past with these.


Lots of photos, so let's get to it.

Make sure you have a threaded needle nearby. Starting in the middle of a 15” piece of Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, fold to create a right angle.

Using compass coordinates, fold the east leg over the center.

Then fold the south leg over the center.

Continue with the west leg, then north.

Repeat to fold the entire length of ribbon to yield a nice, folded stack.

Grab the ribbon by the base and hold firmly between the thumb and finger.

Pull one of the legs to fold ribbon into a rose. Without letting go, hand stitch the base to hold rose firmly together.

Fold 2” of Pear Pizzazz seam binding to create a couple leaves and stitch by hand or sewing machine. The leaves and rose can now be stitched to your project.

These look really great on a 3-D project. They can be a little challenging to attach to a card. I usually punch a hole in my card, slip the ribbon ends through, and secure on the back with tape.

You can try different ribbons for different looks. The top two samples use 5/8" satin ribbon and 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. Below you can see a few more samples, clockwise from the top, 3/8" taffeta ribbon, 5/8" satin ribbon, 1/8" taffeta ribbon, and 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!