Tutorial: Easy Ribbon Rose

I have gotten quite a few emails asking me to share the technique I used for making the ribbon roses on the Aged to Perfection project I shared last week.  I will share how to make the lace flowers in another post soon.

I have been doing ribbonwork for more than ten years.  I am self taught through books.  There are lots of ways to make roses, but this is by far my favorite.  Once you get the hang of it, you can make a ribbon in under a minute.  When I got married 10 years ago, I made every single one of my wedding flowers using this rose in various ribbons.  It was quite a task, but a true labor of love because it was a real part of me and love of ribbon.

You can use pretty much any width and type of ribbon you would like.  The wider the ribbon the broader the finished flower will be. I usually don’t cut my ribbon to any set length, I prefer to work straight from the spool or length of yardage I have so that when I finish I don’t have any scraps.

I like to work from left to right meaning that my length of ribbon is on my left and the end where my flower is built is on my right.  To begin, fold the end of the ribbon forward over itself at a right angle as shown above with the end of the ribbon extending down below the bottom of the edge of the ribbon about 1/2″.

Fold the point of the ribbon on the right back to the left as shown.

Fold right edge over to the left again.  If you were going to use this rose in a wearable project, you would want to make some securing stitches with a needle and thread at this point along the bottom of the ribbon by the tail.  If you plan to use the flower on a project that won’t get handled much, you can skip it.  Stitching adds durability but takes a few more moments.  (In this example, I skipped the stitches.)

Next, take the length of ribbon to the left and make a fold to the rear.  You can see that it makes kind of a diagonal line.  What was the bottom edge of the ribbon is now on the top of the length of ribbon on the left.

Next, roll the rose in your right hand clockwise so that the fold in the length of ribbon on the left is wrapped around the rose.  How much you turn and wrap is up to you.  At this point, I would turn it about half to three quarters the way around.

Fold the length of ribbon on the left to the back again and then roll the center toward the left.

Simply continue to fold and roll until you are pleased with the look and fullness of the flower.

Bring the twisted length of the ribbon down under the flower and hold it to the tail.  If you are stitching, you will sew the two together together.

Sometimes, instead of stitching, I use my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and staple the twisted ribbon to the tail.  If you plan to use your flower on a wearable, always go with stitching.

Trim the tail and excess ribbon near your stitches or staple.

Your finished rose will look something like this.  Each one will vary a bit in look depending on the material used.

For this flower, I used Melissa Frances’ white crepe paper that I colored with Glimmer Mist.  You can also use paper strips, fabric strips, and of course the many different types of ribbon.