I remember doing spool knitting, or corking as we called, when I was a kid but needed to find a refresher course on just how it worked. Google search gave me lots of results and I was able to make my own ‘corker’ and get started.

My first experiment was with a specific length of ribbon so I could determine the ratio of how much product was used to make how much finished spool knitting.

I found that 16’ of 4mm ribbon will turn into approximately 11” of spool knitting.

There are lots of design possibilities here. My first design was with the natural white ribbon that I dip-dyed after I had knitted it.

I also tried it with a solid colors  singly and then by slicing one color into another for a color block effect.

Chartreuse Necklace

Orange and Mocha Necklace

For a contemporary look to my finished necklaces, I added silver-plated curved metal tubes. Another look would be to add a beautiful lamp work bead with a large hole http://www.silkribbon.com/category_10/Lampwork-Beads.htm.

You can couch silk ribbon with other silk ribbons or use embroidery floss.

When using silk ribbon as the couching medium, it’s best to use a smaller width than the ribbon you are laying down as to not cover it completely. Making French knots or small straight stitches are good stitch choices for this. You can also couch at intervals with larger decorative stitches.

When using embroidery floss, you can use a variety of embroidery stitches to get all manner of looks.

You can couch the ribbon so that the full width is flat on the fabric all the way along or you can couch the ribbon by pinching it at intervals giving a wavy wide/thin look.

There’s also the choice of colors to consider, tone on tone, complimentary or contrasting. There are enough choices to make your head spin! It all comes down to what look you would like to achieve.

Here are a few examples of some couching I have done.

couched twisted straight stitch

couching with French knots

couching with spider web roses

This idea is the perfect holiday gift for your friends and family. This step-by-step-tutorial from The Scientific Seamstress offers a brilliant gift idea to accent items with or give as is! Find the complete tutorial on her site along with other creative ideas!

I started by putting together a ‘wish list’ of what I would want in an actual storage system for the spools and cards of ribbon. I decided I wanted to have them in drawers. The drawers could be small so that I could separate the ribbons by color but needed to have clear fronts so I could see the colors without having to pull open each one and go searching for what I needed.

ribbon storage

It’s one of those ‘you’ll know it when you see it’ types of searches. I found pretty much what I was looking for in a hardware store. It’s a parts drawer meant for storing small items such as nuts and bolts and screws but as I looked at the different sizes available I could envision how it would suit my needs. The unit itself is compact and the smallest drawers are the perfect size for the spools of ribbon.

The drawers are made of translucent plastic and come with slide-in dividers so you have the option to separate each drawer space.  It has a couple of medium sized drawers and one large drawer at the bottom that conveniently hold the larger spools of bulk ribbon.  There are notches punched into the frame on back so that the unit can be hung on a wall, but I have mine sitting on a counter right now.

ribbon inventory

The second part of the ribbon management is knowing how much stock I have to work with. By cross-referencing the list on the Cam Creations site, I created a database on my computer of every color available. Each color has a column for the color family it belongs to, color number, color name and each width made. I could then go through my newly organized ribbon drawers and add the quantity I had of each color under the width it was. As I use up a spool or get low I can adjust my quantity list and make note of what I should reorder. I also keep an eye on the new colors introduced on the website and add them to the list.

All of this may sound like a daunting task but if you start when you only have a few spools or chip away at your large collection bit by bit in the end you will feel incredibly organized. Both methods of storage also show you any gaps you may have in your color palette and it turns into a time saver as you stop searching all over your craft room for all of your supplies. The best advantage to getting organized is seeing all of your ribbons together! It helps you envision how you can combine the colors and will give you the inspiration to tackle a whole bunch of new embroidery projects!

These easy ruffled flowers look great whether you use them singly or in a bouquet. If you cluster them together try using either a mixture of colors or variations of one color. To finish it off add embellishments such as the prairie point leaves, French knots and stems.

Step 1. Cut an 8” length of 32 mm wide ribbon.

Step 2. Thread one end onto a large chenille needle. Take this end down through your fabric from the top leaving only about ¾” below the fabric.

Step 2

Step 3. Thread a sewing needle with a 12” length of matching embroidery floss knotted at one end. Bring the floss up from the back through the ribbon tail.

Step 3

Step 4. Make a running stitch using approximately ½” long stitches down the center of the ribbon stopping about 1 ½” from the end.

Step 4

Step 5. Push the ribbon down along the floss toward the starting point to gather the ribbon and then twist the ribbon so the gathers aren’t sitting directly on top of each other.

Step 5

Step 6. Thread the end of the ribbon onto a large chenille needle and take the ribbon end down through the fabric close to the starting point of the ribbon. Only pull about an 1” of ribbon through to the back.

Step 6

Step 7. Take the floss through to the back through the ribbon and pull tightly to keep the ribbon gathered.

Step 8. Make a few stitches on the back through both ribbon ends to prevent them from pulling through to the front.  Tie off the floss and trim any excess ribbon.

It’s a really lovely way to add just a hint of the wedding color to a wedding dress. You can also carry the theme to the bridesmaids and flower girls with sashes of their own on their dresses or by taking the flowers and attaching them to inexpensive headbands or to flower girl baskets.

satin and organza flower

I was looking around the Cam Creations website the other day and found these lovely flowers that would be ideal for this application! They are a great size at 4” wide and are available in six colors plus ivory and white.

Team these flowers with their pure silk satin ribbon in the 50 mm/2” width in your choice of 49 colors and you’ve got a really beautiful wedding sash. You should use double-faced ribbon, that way no matter how you tie the ribbon it will look the same on both sides. If one of the 49 colors isn’t to your color scheme, Cam Creations also offers an amazing custom dyeing service.

If you’re the type of bride or bride’s mom that plans well enough ahead, I would highly recommended that you purchase the sample card of the pure silk satin ribbon before you decide on your order. Everyone’s computer monitor is set differently so it’s difficult to know whether you are seeing the true colors online. The sample card consists of real cut pieces of the ribbons and shows all of the sizes and colors available.

Once you have that sample card in hand your imagination can run wild with all the ways you could use this beautiful ribbon!

1. I think you need to be aware of the medium you are working in and think about how it will be used. There are two definitions of ‘used’, one is the way you manipulate the ribbon and what its limitations are and the second is the physical use of the item you are creating. Adding silk ribbon loop flowers and spider-web roses to items that are handled a lot like eyeglass cases or change purses is probably not a good idea as those kinds of stitches going to suffer after a while.

2. In the case of the medium, the silk ribbon, you have 5 widths you. Covering a large area with just one color is not the best use of the silk ribbon. It’s better to use the ribbons to create the objects in the picture and let the background material or another introduced fabric work as the larger color blocked areas. By studying the types of stitches you can use in silk ribbon embroidery you get a better understanding of the medium.

3. Design is also about trial and error. Recently I got the idea to stitch a single bird wing design for a brooch. The elongated oval shape of the brooch had an influence on the type of design I would use. I started out by researching what a bird’s wing actually looks like and made some sketches.

4. I made the first design using 2mm ribbon figuring it needed to fit in the small space I had for the brooch. After it was complete and I had mounted it within the brooch frame, I felt it didn’t look enough like a bird’s wing. In fact, I thought it looked like an eyelash on a closed eye!

5. For my second attempt, I decided to use 4mm ribbon and really pay attention to the overall shape of the wing. I think it turned out way better and I’m quite happy with it.

6. Don’t be afraid to experiment that’s what gives you the knowledge of the medium in the end.

wing samples

They asked me to develop 10 different embroidery projects and write the instructions and materials list for each one. Also included in the booklet is a chapter touching on the specific materials used such as the ribbons, needles required, fabrics best suited for projects, embroidery frames and more.

For the section of the booklet on how-to complete an individual stitch, the publishers were thinking of having them illustrated based on my written instructions. I sent them step-by step photos along with the instructions on how to execute each type of stitch and when they saw the photos they asked that they be included in the how-to section instead of the illustrations.

The editor that contacted me loved the Chrysanthemum pillow I had designed and had for sale in my shop on Etsy. Her idea was to include the ribbons, needle and marker pen to be able to complete this design. The cover of the box has the picture of the chrysanthemum on it.

The kit is available through Amazon.com under the title Ribbon Art. The author name is Brenda Kee.

Your creation will be featured on our front page, with links and credit given to your shop/site!

Note: We review every submission and handpick select entries to feature on our front page. Please only submit each project only once. Multiple project entries for different items acceptable. Please allow 3-15 business days to be notified if you are selected. Only accepted entries will receive a reply to the email provided below.

[contact-form 1 "Contact form 1"]