ribbon tree tutorial

Wow, two posts in one day.  But I was asked how my ribbon trees were made.  So I thought I’d share how I figured it out…

I cut a piece of ribbon about 19”.  With a fine tip marker made a tiny dot 2” from one end to mark a starting point. 

From there I made dots along the ribbon spacing them apart at: 2 3/4”, 2 1/2”, 2 1/4”, 2”, 1 3/4”, 1 1/2”, 1 1/4” and 1”.  (The spaces between get smaller by a quarter of an inch). I also gathered some pearl beads and large seed beads.

I inserted my double threaded needle through the beginning dot, a pearl bead and a seed bead.  Then came back through the pearl bead and ribbon to secure the bottom of the tree.

I added another bead and went through the next dot again and again…

 

Until there were four loops on each side ending with a pearl on top.  I threaded through another seed bead and back through the pearl and ribbon to secure just like at the beginning.

Finally I went back up through both beads again and tied a knot at about an inch or so to make a hanging loop.

 

Clipped the ends of the ribbons to where I liked them and touched them up with Fray Check…

and Voila!…a ribbon tree!

My Way

I’m making some progress on my klosjes. 

This is my first attempt at a tutorial.  Its mostly for Kaaren who wondered how I made my pattern.  There may be better methods out there but this is how I figured it out and its working well for me.

First I sketched my pattern on 1/4” graph paper.  (You can print some here).  Mine finish at 3 inches square.  I decided I wanted my center to be 1 1/4 inches.  I kind of pulled that out of a hat…it just looked good to me. 

I added seam allowance and cut the two main pieces out.  Then I cut a permanent pattern from template plastic. The final template includes the 1/4” seam allowance. 

Can you see the holes in the plastic?  I was puzzled about getting accurate seam lines and borders, so the way I chose to do it was to punch those holes in the template so I could mark the seam line and corners. 

With a fine marker, I trace the template on the wrong side of my fabric and mark dots through the holes for the stitching line.  Maybe you can see the teeny tiny dots on the fabric. 

Marking and cutting the fabric goes pretty quick for me this way. And when I sew the pieces together I just match and sew dot to dot… I figure I can hand sew a straight line freestyle for at least an inch.

And finally I put all the cut and ready pieces into this cute little tin that Teresa gave me for Christmas.  Thanks again Teresa, it is just perfect for this project.  I tuck it into my purse so I can keep my fingers occupied wherever I go.