Ribbon Floral Centerpiece : Crafting : Home & Garden Television

Ribbon Floral Centerpiece

Guest Helen Gibb creates a bouquet of lovely flowers—all made of ribbon! Helen shares her techniques for making poppy, sweet pea and tea roses below.

General Assembly
Once you've made the ribbon flowers (instructions below), place a piece of floral foam into an urn or basket, then insert the flowers in a horizontal design that's pleasing to you. Fill in with purchased silk greenery.

Note: All flowers require a needle, thread, hot glue gun, floral tape. Copies of Helen's books, Ribbonwork -The Complete Guide, and The Secrets of Fashioning Ribbon Flowers are helpful for resources to better understand how to make ribbon flowers.

Ribbon Poppy

Materials:
26" of 1-1/2" wide wire edge ribbon
2-3/4" of 1" wide olive green ombre wire edge ribbon
10" of 18-gauge thread covered wire

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Steps:
1. The poppy petals are made with the single u-gather technique. The poppy has four petals, all cut from 1-1/2-inch wide wired ribbon (Figure A). Cut two, six-inch lengths and two, seven-inch lengths.

2. Make the center of the flower by covering the top of 10-inch of stem wire with a pea-sized piece of cotton wadding. Cover that with a one-inch square of green ribbon with both wires removed and secure with thread (Figure B).

3. Fold the stamens in half and position them around this center. Tightly wrap thread around them, then secure them in place with a few stitches (Figure C). The top of the stamens should come about halfway up on the poppy petal.

Figure D

4. Remove the wire on the gathering edge of the ribbon and make four single U-gathered petals from the six-inch and seven-inch lengths. Gather the six-inch petals more tightly than the seven-inch petals (Figure D).

5. Stitch or glue one of the six-inch petals, snugly fitting, around the base of the stamen center. Stitch/glue the other six-inch petal opposite that one.

6. Stitch/glue one of the seven-inch petals between and on the outside of the first two petals. Stitch the other seven-inch petal opposite that. Keep the top of the petals level with the previous row of petals. Refer to the petal placement diagram below.

Figure E

7. Hide the raw edges at the bottom of the flower with a green tube calyx 1" x 2-3/4". Remove both wires from the ribbon. Fold the ribbon in half then sew a seam along the raw edge. Be sure the tube is right sides out. Slipstitch the tube to the underside of the poppy, then wrap thread around the ribbon and stem. Secure the thread and wrap with floral tape. An alternative to the calyx is to simply wrap the underside of the flower in floral tape (Figure E).

8. Crimp the poppy petals like a pie crust.

Sweet Pea

Materials:
32-1/2" of 1-1/2" wide wire edge ribbon
32-1/2" of 1" wide wire edge ribbon
18" of 32-gauge thread covered wire
10" of 18-gauge thread covered wire

Steps:

1. The three parts of the sweet pea are made with the single U-gather technique. The outer petal is a six-inch length of 1-1/2-inch wide ribbon; the middle petal is a five-inch length of one-inch wide ribbon; and the center pea is a 1-1/2-inch length of one-inch wide ribbon. Remove the wire on the gathering side of the ribbon.

Figure A

2. Stitch the center pea using the U-gather technique. Do not gather yet. Glue a two-inch length of 32-gauge wire (with a small loop at the end) to the center of the pea. Gather tightly (the pea will be cupped). Secure the thread then flatten the pea into a curve shape (Figure A).

3. Stitch and gather the middle petal so it fits around the base of the center pea. Secure it to the pea.

Figure B

4. Gather the outer petal so it will fit around the base of both the small petal and pea (Figure B).

5. Make four more florets as described above.

6. Use floral tape to cover the raw edges at the base of the florets and wires.

7. Style the petals. The back petal should flare out, while the top of the middle petal should be pinched to a point. The center pea curves back.

8. Bud & Tendrils - Make the bud for the top of the stem by stitching and styling a 2-1/2-inch length of 1-1/2-inch wide ribbon in the same manner as the center pea.

9. Make some tendrils by curling a two- to three-inch piece of 32-gauge wire around a loop turner, knitting needle, crochet hook, or other similar object.

Figure C

10. Stems - Begin the stemming process with the bud. Glue it to the top of the main stem wire, then use floral tape to cover the raw edges of the ribbon and one inch of the main stem. Add the florets and tendrils in the same manner as shown. Stem the florets with two inches of 32-gauge wire and attach these to a 20-gauge wire main stem (Figure C).

Ribbon Tea Roses
Materials:
60-1/2" of 1-1/2" wide wired ribbon
10" of 18-gauge thread covered wire

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Steps:
1. The tea rose is made in two parts—a folded rose center and rolled corner petals. For the folded rose center use 18 inches of 1-1/2-inch wide ribbon. Fold the ribbon down and then across once (Figure A). Glue a 10 inch piece of 18-gauge wire to the folded end of the ribbon. Tightly roll the fold and wire until the top of the rolled ribbon forms a round cylinder. Stitch the base to secure ribbon folds. Do not cut the thread. Fold the ribbon on the left, toward the back (Figure B). Tilt the coiled ribbon cylinder so it rests almost at the end of the diagonal fold. The top of the cylinder should not rise higher than the folded edge of the ribbon. Roll the ribbon cylinder beyond the diagonal and until the excess ribbon is situated to the left of the cylinder again (Figure C). Secure the new folds of the ribbon cylinder. Repeat until the ribbon is used up. Finish the rose by folding down the last few inches of ribbon into the base of the rose and securing with stitches. Trim the excess ribbon from the base of the rose.

Figure D

Figure E

2. Make 11 rolled corner petals. Make five petals using four inches of 1-1/2-inch wide ribbon per petal. Make five petals using 4-1/2 inches of 1-1/2-inch wide ribbon per petal. Fold the ribbon in half. Roll the corners and secure with a stitch (Figure D). Gather or pleat the bottom of the petal and secure tightly (Figure E).

3. Glue or stitch the four inch petals to the rose center, followed by the 4-1/2-inch petals.

Figure F

4. Cover the base of the petals with bias silk ribbon or floral tape (Figure F).

Guests
Helen Gibb
Author and Ribbon Artist
Helen Gibb Design Inc
For autographed copies of Helen's books, order directly from her web site
Website: www.helengibb.com

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