Replicate the look of crushed and faded roses with new French wired ribbon.· Begin with 1 yard of size 5 (1" wide) French wired ribbon. To crush your ribbon, wet the wired ribbon thoroughly. Crumble it up into a ball very tightly in your hand until most of the water is squeezed out. Let the ball of ribbon dry completely. Do not unwrap the ball until it's dry. For an antique faded look, tea-dye the ribbon before crushing it.
· Unroll the ball of ribbon. If you're using an ombre (shaded) ribbon you'll need to decide the color you want around the outside edge of the rose. Place that color at the top edge of the ribbon as you're holding it in your left hand. Fold the right side of the ribbon down diagonally letting the ribbon extend below the selvedge about ½”. Fold the diagonal edge in half again.
· Begin rolling the ribbon from the right cut edge about 1” to 1½” along the length to form the center of the rose. Tuck a few stamens in as you go or leave the center plain. Tack at the base with a few stitches using a needle and thread. I use a size 10 milliners needle and size O Nymo bead thread for my ribbonwork.
· Shirr the ribbon on the wire by pulling gently on the bottom wire from the lower left selvedge. The tighter you gather the ribbon, the fuller the rose will look. Be careful not to break the wire. If the wire does break, pull it out and then gather the bottom edge of the ribbon with a needle and thread using ¼” long stitches. Do not knot off or cut the thread yet.
· Sew the center bud to the center of a 3" square of crinoline. Coil the ribbon around the center loosely to form the rose. Tighten or loosen the gathers until you get the look you like, then knot off and cut the thread. Tuck the raw end of the ribbon under the coiled ribbon, and tack the rose down to the crinoline with hidden stitches by sewing across the flower in an X. Trim the excess crinoline away.
· If you're making a brooch, tack some purchased leaves underneath the rose to the crinoline. Cut a circle out of felt (pink or scallop the edge) to cover the crinoline on the back of the brooch. Glue the felt on the back of the rose. Glue or sew a pinback to the felt.
Enjoy your beautiful flowers...
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