How to Stitch-and-Gather Ribbon Flowers

Ribbon artist Helen Gibb demonstrates a simple technique known as the U-gather. This stitching and gathering technique allows you to make several different ribbon flowers such as roses, violets, pansies and poppies.

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Materials and Tools:
one yard each of 5/8" wide, 1" wide, and 1-1/2" wide French wired ribbons in rose colors
one yard each of 7/16" wide, 1" wide, 1-1/2" wide, and 2-1/2" wide bias cut Hanah hand-dyed silk ribbon in rose/blossom colors
white beading
thread
milliner's needle, size 10
scissors
long pins
tape measure

Filler Flower
1. Cut the 1/4-inch wide ribbon two inches in length. Cut the 7/16-inch wide ribbon four inches in length. Cut the 5/8-inch wide ribbon six inches in length.

2. Start at the top of the ribbon edge and stitch a running/gathering stitch down the raw edge curing around the corner, along the woven edge, round the corner and up the other raw edge.

3. Gather tightly, and secure the gathering.

4. Overlap the edges (to form a rosette shape), and secure together with a few stitches near the center.

5. Fill the tight center with stamens or beads.

Bblossom with Four Petals (continuous U-gather)
1. Cut the 7/16-inch wide ribbon into five to six inch lengths. Cut the 5/8-inch wide ribbon into seven to eight inch lengths.

2. Divide the ribbon into four segments. Mark the segments with pins.

3. Stitch four continuous u-gathers, one in each segment, along the entire length of the ribbon. Gather tightly, and secure the gathering.

4. Join the first stitch to the last stitch so the ribbon forms a round flower shape.

5. Fill the tight center with stamens or beads.

Tips:

Filler flowers may be stemmed, used in collage compositions and as rosettes on the headbands of hats.
Larger u-gather petals can make poppies, sweet peas, roses, and more.
Blossoms can be stemmed, used as groups in posies, used separately in ribbon flower collages, and as additions to hats.
Larger continuous U-gather petals can be made up into pansies, roses, violets and more.

Resources

Products
- Hanah hand-dyed silk ribbon from Artemis Exquisite Embellishments
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