Garlands made from ribbon flowers are beautiful decorations that will last much longer than garlands made from real flowers. You can make different flowers to make garlands for different seasons and holidays, such as poinsettias for a festive holiday piece. Ribbon flower art makes a great decoration for your home, as well as a great gift.
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 3:
Creating Poinsettias from Ribbon
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Gather your supplies. One flower that looks lovely in ribbon is the poinsettia. To create your ribbon poinsettias, you will need a variety of supplies, including: [1] X Research source
- 1.5-inch (3.8-cm) wide velvet or satin ribbon in red, pink, white, and green
- Scissors
- Two long sewing pins
- Thread
- 24-gauge wire
- Wire cutters
- Hot glue gun and glue
- Gold rhinestones
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Cut your ribbon. Start by making a single red poinsettia. To make it, you will need strips of green ribbon for the leaves, plus longer and shorter strips of red ribbon for the flower. Cut out:
- Three four-inch (10 cm) strips of red ribbon
- Two two-inch (5 cm) strips of red ribbon
- Two six-inch (15 cm) strips of green ribbon
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Trim the ribbon ends. With each piece of ribbon, you need both ends to come to a point, rather than being squared. Fold each piece of ribbon in half lengthwise. To make the pointed ends: [2] X Research source
- At one end, cut from the tip of the folded edge downward at a 45-degree angle. Repeat on the other side.
- Open the fold, and the ribbon will have a triangular edge. Repeat with each piece of ribbon.
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Fold the red ribbon strips. With each piece of red ribbon, you need to create a few folds to give the ribbon a more flower-like shape. To fold the ribbon strips, you need to: [3] X Research source
- Fold the ribbon in half lengthwise, so the velvet sides are touching. Press down with your finger to make a crease in the ribbon.
- On one side, fold the ribbon in half again the other way to expose the velvet side, and make a crease. Repeat on the other side.
- Pinch the ribbon in the center and flare out the ribbon on either side. Pierce the ribbon through the middle of all three folds with the sewing pin. Do this with all three long strips, and pierce them all with the same pin.
- Repeat with the smaller red ribbon strips, but pierce them with the second pin.
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Assemble the flowers. Start with the longer red strips. Unwrap a length of wire from the spool and wrap it around the center points twice, right beside where the pin is. Remove the pin. [4] X Research source
- You should now have six red flower petals. With the same length of wire, wrap the wire around the base of each petal once. This will help to separate the petals and keep them in place. When you have wrapped the base of each petal with wire, cut the wire with the wire cutter.
- Repeat these steps with the smaller red ribbon strips. You will end up with a smaller flower with two petals.
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Attach the flowers. These two flowers will actually be glued together to create a single flower, because poinsettias have layers of larger and smaller flower petals. Plug in your hot glue gun.
- When the glue is ready, place a pea-sized dab of glue at the center front (the velvet side) of the larger flower. Center the smaller flower over top of this and press it into the glue so that both velvet sides are facing up and the center wire bands match up. [5] X Research source
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Make the leaves. With the green ribbon strips, fold each piece in half lengthwise with the velvet sides touching. Make a crease in the ribbon. Pinch the center of each ribbon and criss-cross the strips so they make an X. Open up the ends of the ribbon.
- With a new length of wire, attach the two pieces of ribbon together by wrapping the wire around horizontally and then vertically around the meeting point. When you have finished wrapping the leaves, wrap the wire around to the back (shiny side) of the ribbon and leave a four-inch (10 cm) stem of wire before cutting.
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Finish the flower. Place a pea-sized dab of glue at the center of the green ribbons. Center the red ribbon flower over this and press it into the glue.
- To make the stamen at the center of the flower, place three or four small dots of glue into the center of the flower, and affix a gold rhinestone to each dab.
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Make enough flowers for a garland. Repeat these steps to make more red, white, and pink poinsettia flowers with green leaves. You will need about 10 to make a basic garland.Advertisement
Part 2
Part 2 of 3:
Assembling the Garland
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Find a garland base. To make your garland, you can affix the ribbon flowers to a premade garland. Check craft stores, hobby stores, Christmas stores, or online for a base. [6] X Research source
- Garland bases are usually real or synthetic evergreen boughs that are made from or designed to mimic pine, fir, and other coniferous trees. Synthetic garlands will last much longer than ones made from real trees.
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Position the flowers on the garland. There are a number of ways that you can decorate the garland with your flowers, and how you do it is a matter of personal preference. You can put the flowers on:
- In a straight line
- So that they cover the garland base
- In a zig-zag pattern
- With one at each end and one in the center
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Affix the flowers to the garland. When you’ve decided how you want to arrange the flowers on the garland, you can attach them properly. Take the wire stem from the leaves and wrap it around the entire garland base or just a few sprigs on the garland. Once you’ve attached the flower, fluff the garland so there aren't any bare spots.
- If you didn’t leave a wire stem on your flowers, you can also affix the flowers with florist’s tape or with a needle and thread. [7] X Research source
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Part 3
Part 3 of 3:
Making Other Flowers
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Create ribbon roses. There are many different flowers you can make with ribbon, including the ever-popular rose. To make these roses, you'll need 36 inches (91 cm) of florist’s ribbon or satin ribbon that’s 1.25 inches (3 cm) wide. You'll also need a measuring tape, tweezers, and thread or wire to secure the ribbon ends. [8] X Research source
- Lay the ribbon flat on a table. Measure three inches (7.5 cm) in from one of the ends. At that point, make a 45-degree fold toward you, so that the ribbon forms an upside down L. Make a crease to secure the fold.
- Turn the ribbon 90 degrees in a counter-clockwise direction. Make another 45-degree fold toward you. Continue turning the ribbon 90 degrees in a counter-clockwise fashion and making a 45-degree fold. It will look like you're folding the ribbon into a small square. Stop when you have folded all but a three-inch (7.5-cm) tail at either end of the ribbon.
- At the end of the ribbon where you finished, trim the end to create a point. Push the end of the tweezers through the center of the squares from the bottom. Place the pointed end of the ribbon in between the tweezer prongs. Apply pressure to the tweezers as you pull the pointed end of the ribbon through the center of the squares and out the bottom. Continue pulling until you have a two-inch (five-cm) tail coming through the center.
- Hold on to the ribbon tail you pulled through the center, and gently spin the ribbon around in a counter-clockwise direction. As you do this, the ribbon squares will twist around the center, forming petals. Continue twisting until all the layers of ribbon squares have twisted into a rose shape.
- On the underside, hold the two ribbon ends together and secure them together with a needle and thread or wire wrap before trimming the excess.
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Make daisies from ribbon. Daisies are another popular flower that you can make with ribbon, and there are a wide variety of ribbon colors you can use to make these daisies. All you need for this project is 60 inches (152 cm) of satin ribbon that’s five-eights of an inch (1.6 cm) wide, scissors, a needle and thread, hot glue, and a rhinestone or gem for the center of the flower. [9] X Research source
- Pinch one end of the ribbon between your thumb and forefinger. Measure out a piece of ribbon that’s 1.5 to two inches (3.8 to five cm) in length, then fold the ribbon back on itself to make a loop. Pinch the ribbon between your same thumb and forefinger to keep the loop secure.
- Continue making loops in the ribbon like this, stacking them on top of each other like accordion folds. You should make at least 10 to 15 loops, because each of these will become a flower petal.
- When you’ve made all the loops you want, use the needle and thread to secure the loops together. Place a few stitches on the bottom left corner of the loops (under where your thumb and forefinger were pinching the ribbon).
- Gradually fan out the ribbon loops so they make a complete circle like a flower. Adjust the loops so they are evenly distributed around the circle. When you're finished, turn the flower over to the side without the stitching. Place a pea-sized dab of hot glue in the center of the flower and secure a pearl, gem, or rhinestone.
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Put together a ribbon carnation. Carnations are popular flowers for events like Mother’s Day, so a ribbon carnation is a lovely project if you want to make a ribbon flower wreath, broach, hair piece, or other craft. For this flower, you need 4.4 yards (400 meters) of wire-edged ribbon that’s one inch (25 cm) wide. You'll also need a needle, thread, and a pair of scissors. [10] X Research source
- Take one end of the ribbon and push back the ribbon to expose the wire within. Gently tug the wire away from the ribbon. As you do so, slide the ribbon down the wire in the opposite direction, so it gathers toward the middle of the ribbon. Continue sliding the ribbon down the wire until you’ve gathered the entire piece down to about 30 inches (75 cm).
- Trim off the excess wire, leaving a one-inch (2.5-cm) tail. Tie a knot in the end of the ribbon where the wire is exposed, making sure to gather the wire end into the knot as well.
- Using the knot as the center of the flower, gradually wind the ribbon around the center knot, being sure that the gathered edge of the ribbon is exposed at the top. After every few laps around the knot, stop to put a few stitches into the ribbon on the underside to secure it in place. Continue wrapping the ribbon around the center and stitching every few wraps to secure the ribbon.
- When you get to the end of the ribbon, tie a knot that incorporates the wire inside as well. Trim off the excess ribbon from the knots at both ends, being careful not to cut the knots themselves.
- Finish wrapping the last layer of ribbon, and use the needle and thread to stitch it in place. Turn the flower to the right side and use your finger tips to gently pull and fluff out the gathers to fill out the flower.
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References
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO8YCvXv9V0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbrjT9Vmc3o
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO8YCvXv9V0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO8YCvXv9V0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO8YCvXv9V0
- ↑ http://www.fiftyflowers.com/flowervideos/how-to/How-To-Create-a-Floral-Garland.html
- ↑ http://www.save-on-crafts.com/tecformakgar.html
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw56TnrUpn0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKjAmk1wJhU
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