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From decorating a pillow to wrapping up a present, silk ribbon embroidery is extremely beautiful and easy to play with for hand-made projects. Ribbons are widely used to help people decorate or tie up creatively almost any type of hand-made project. But using ribbons to create for example a pompon bow or a ribbon rose used as a garment pin, takes practice and professional advice. Thus, the following simple tips can help you embellish your friend’s next present, or surprise your dinner guests with your own ribbon-made Dior plate treatments.

To create any kind of bow, you will need some basic tools, such as scissors, a meter, a thin wooden stick, some glue tape and/or wire and of course your choice of ribbons. Sold in a variety of colors, designs and textures, you can find your selection of ribbons at your local fabric store. If you wish to make your own pompon bow, take a ribbon and form a 9 inches loop equal in size to the diameter of the finished bow. Wrap the remaining ribbon around the loop as many times as you desire for your bow. Then, flatten loops and cut off triangles at end, being careful not to cut too close to the center. By bringing ends together to meet in center you will then be left with two overlapping triangles. Secure the ribbon at the centered triangles with wire, tape or another piece of ribbon. Pull out loops, twisting them towards the center and alternating sides and you will end up with your pompon bow. In case a Dior bow seems more appropriate, cut your selection of ribbon or ribbons into 5 lengths, beginning with 5 inches and stopping at 22 inches. Then take each piece and form loops, overlapping at the center. Glue them in place, and then securely attach each loop with the next. Finally, wrap a smaller length around the center of your bow and glue it under the bow’s visible surface. Your Dior bow can now embellish your hat, shoes, or handbag.

If you want to create your own beautiful ribbon pin rose you will need some wire and your choice of ribbons for the rose and its petals. Begin by making a knot at one end of a 22 inches ribbon length. At the opposite end of the ribbon, poke out wire from one side and loosely gather the ribbon along this wire down to the knot. Avoid pulling the ribbon hard, as it might snap. Continue gathering until the entire side is completely ruffled and it seems to curl naturally. Do not cut off the wire that appears at the end; leave for now free. Then, start forming a rose, by holding the knotted end in one hand and spiral the wired gathered ribbon with the other around the knot loosely. Continue rapping until it flares out and acquires an open rose effect. Then, fold the raw edge down to meet the gathered one and secure the wrapping wire end around the knot tightly. Cut the free wire off and finally, adjust the petals as needed to create the desired effect. For a leaf, fold small pieces of ribbon diagonally to the center and then fold each side towards the center to form a point. Gather bottom end and wrap it with wire, securing it onto the rose base. Your hand-made rose will certainly attract your friends’ attention.

John Gibb is the owner of ribbon resources
, For more information on ribbons check out http://www.ribbon-advice.info

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It is difficult to determine a criterion, according to which a cultivated plant can be called fashionable. A new discovery of stock-breeders? A bright hybrid? An exotic, which settled in our latitudes recently? And may be this is a strange flower, which seeds you have been dreaming to find since you saw it in someone’s garden for the first time? Let’s hope a beginner will blend with your garden’s palette in harmony, and, very soon, it will attract delighted glances of neighbors and guests, who will definitely ask you: what is this?

A wonderful Aquilegia

Aquilegia (

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Used primarily for binding and tying, ribbons are thin bands of flexible materials, preferably made out of cloths, but also plastic, which people use to wrap presents or create hand-made projects. Commonly used to embellish garments, and hair, or as ornaments on objects, ribbons have become a famous material for fashion as well as for decoration purposes.

Once affordable only by nobles, ribbons today are available in a variety of different colors, designs, textures and sizes to accommodate any need. Conveying a special meaning and symbolically significant, ribbons have been around for centuries nurturing the human aesthetic sense of beauty and elegance. Ribbon-weaving is known to have been established near St. Etienne as early as the 11th century, making that town the headquarters of the ribbon industry in its infancy.

The introduction of the jacquard loom around 1815, which produced floral and pictorial ribbons, allowed the expansion and the use of ribbons to new publics. In fact, during the 17th and 18th centuries, ribbons were used as a fashion embellishment both by men and women. Dresses, collars, hats, shoes, as well as numerous other fashion accessories, were trimmed with ribbons that took the form of rosettes and cockades. Produced in various colors, famously preferred in red, gold, white, and blue, ribbons were worn to represent nobility. France and then England embraced the ribbons use as an embellishment fashion accessory, while the ribbon roses, for instance, have become very popular during the Victorian times and even before.

Today, ribbons are used much the same way as before, but also in a number of new ways as new fashion and gadget accessories called for their beauty and flexible form. Belts, hats, shoes, clothes, books, mobile phones, high-tech gadgets, lamps, pillows, beddings, sofa covers, walls, furniture and a plethora of other objects are decorated with colorful ribbons that alter their look and feel. Moreover, ribbons are today worn as statement symbols, signifying hope, support, agreement, disapproval or effort. Examples of famous ribbons are the Yellow Ribbon of Hope or the Red Ribbon in support of HIV/AIDS victims and their caretakers.

Ribbons have traveled from Asia to Europe and from their American colonies to peoples homes worldwide, changing not only a garment’s or accessory’s appearance, but also people ideas and interests. Ribbons have become much more than a simple embellishment; they have come to represent both a cause and a passion. Perhaps finding new ways to use ribbons is only a matter of inspiration and time.

John Gibb is the owner of ribbon resources
, For more information on ribbons check out http://www.ribbon-advice.info

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