Ribbon Floral Centerpiece

Carol Duvall Show : Episode CDS-1904 -- More Projects »

Project designed by guest Helen Gibb

Guest Helen Gibb creates a bouquet of lovely flowers—all made of ribbon! Helen shares her techniques for making poppy, sweet pea and tea roses below.

General Assembly
Once you've made the ribbon flowers (instructions below), place a piece of floral foam into an urn or basket, then insert the flowers in a horizontal design that's pleasing to you. Fill in with purchased silk greenery.

Note: All flowers require a needle, thread, hot glue gun, floral tape. Copies of Helen's books, Ribbonwork -The Complete Guide, and The Secrets of Fashioning Ribbon Flowers are helpful for resources to better understand how to make ribbon flowers.

Ribbon Poppy

Materials:
26" of 1-1/2" wide wire edge ribbon
2-3/4" of 1" wide olive green ombre wire edge ribbon
10" of 18-gauge thread covered wire

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Steps:
1. The poppy petals are made with the single u-gather technique. The poppy has four petals, all cut from 1-1/2-inch wide wired ribbon (Figure A). Cut two, six-inch lengths and two, seven-inch lengths.

2. Make the center of the flower by covering the top of 10-inch of stem wire with a pea-sized piece of cotton wadding. Cover that with a one-inch square of green ribbon with both wires removed and secure with thread (Figure B).

3. Fold the stamens in half and position them around this center. Tightly wrap thread around them, then secure them in place with a few stitches (Figure C). The top of the stamens should come about halfway up on the poppy petal.

Figure D

4. Remove the wire on the gathering edge of the ribbon and make four single U-gathered petals from the six-inch and seven-inch lengths. Gather the six-inch petals more tightly than the seven-inch petals (Figure D).

5. Stitch or glue one of the six-inch petals, snugly fitting, around the base of the stamen center. Stitch/glue the other six-inch petal opposite that one.

6. Stitch/glue one of the seven-inch petals between and on the outside of the first two petals. Stitch the other seven-inch petal opposite that. Keep the top of the petals level with the previous row of petals. Refer to the petal placement diagram below.

Figure E

7. Hide the raw edges at the bottom of the flower with a green tube calyx 1" x 2-3/4". Remove both wires from the ribbon. Fold the ribbon in half then sew a seam along the raw edge. Be sure the tube is right sides out. Slipstitch the tube to the underside of the poppy, then wrap thread around the ribbon and stem. Secure the thread and wrap with floral tape. An alternative to the calyx is to simply wrap the underside of the flower in floral tape (Figure E).

8. Crimp the poppy petals like a pie crust.

Next >>

1 | 2 | 3

Also in this Episode

Carol Duvall Show : Episode CDS-1904
•	Ribbon Floral Centerpiece
•	Shoebox: Scrubber, Painted Gourds

Crafts

Ribbon Floral Centerpiece

Tools

MOST POPULAR

Crafts

Ribbon Floral Centerpiece

Tools

MOST POPULAR

Home and Garden Ideas from our sponsors