Incorporating Ribbon in Projects + Giveaway

If you have every seen ribbon being used on my blog, or in my projects, chances are good they have come from the Ribbon Jar.  Whenever I have a project that needs ribbon, I don’t even shop around, I just head straight there because they always have what I need.  The customer service is fantastic.  Above and beyond, every time.  I’ve ordered from them for a few years now, but with the inception of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, I got the opportunity to know Amber (the pervious owner) and her daughter who is the same age as my son.  Her mom Julie now owns the company and has kept up the same quality of ribbon and customer service.  I am always 110% pleased with my orders.

With that said, Amber and Julie emailed and asked if I’d be interested in joining in a blog hop to get the word out about their new website design, and of course I said yes, because I love an opportunity to help out a great business.  I recommend them every opportunity I get.  So I got thinking of some ideas and ordered up a pack of their green ribbons and some brown, with some ideas for a project.  Julie included some gorgeous red ribbons in the pack (photo above, and listed below for pencil holder) and as I was thinking more and more about what I wanted to make, I changed my mind and had to put in another order for a whole bunch of red ribbons.  I love red fabrics and ribbons.  So the green will be incorporated into some projects a little later, but for now let me show you what I did with my reds.

Around the holidays I like to work on holiday projects, who doesn’t, right?  I especially enjoy doing cross stitch and embroidery.  I had been working on my Halloween one, but with the winter holidays drawing nearer, I am going to need something “Christmas-y” to work on soon, so I wanted to make up a travel hoop bag to hold everything in.  I used my go-to pattern from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery to make this one.  (By the way, I’ll take any tips you have on photographing red, because these photos were a pain to edit!)

I found this amazing red denim at Handcock Fabric’s and couldn’t resist pairing it with all the red ribbons.  I wasn’t sure at first so I had to poll everyone on Instagram, but it was a resounding yes, so I went with it.  Adding ribbon to your projects is so easy, just attach it first and then treat it as you would your fabric your using for your project. 

For this I stitched one ribbon on at a time with my sewing machine.  On the wider ribbons I stitched along both edges, and on the skinny one I just went down the center with a decorative stitch.  I didn’t get too picky about how they were laid out, just pinned before sewing to make sure they stayed relatively straight.  I also found sewing with my walking foot to be a wise move, as I didn’t have to worry about those ribbons shifting around under my patchwork foot.

Another wise move when adding ribbon to a project is to make your initial piece you’ll be adding it to (my front panel of my hoop bag in this case) a little bigger than the final size needs to be.  That way, after the ribbon is sewn on, you can trim the piece to size and know that it’s the right size for your project and that you’ve sewn enough ribbon on to be caught into the seam allowance.  For this project I also went ahead and sewed it to my batting piece so that it was “quilted” as well before making the final pouch.

I did the same thing when making this pencil holder from a half & half carton.  I sewed the ribbon onto my linen, one at a time and then trimmed the piece to size.  To finish the project I used Heat & Bond to adhere it to the sides of the trimmed down carton.  I’m thinking teacher gifts for Christmas this year.

I love how using ribbons adds a simple and pretty touch to a plain fabric.  I have more project ideas using ribbon that I hope to share in the coming weeks.  I still have my idea for using those greens floating around. 

If you would like a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to The Ribbon Jar simply leave a comment telling us your favorite ribbon on the site. This contest is open to all readers, domestic and international. I will announce a winner on Thursday.  For more chances to win please visit the other blogs on the hop. Good luck!

Amber @ Life in Color Wednesday, November 7th
Ashley @ Cherished Bliss Thursday, November 8th
Lindsey @ LRstitched Friday, November 9th
Christina @ The Sometimes Crafter Saturday, November 10
Jen @ Betty Crocker Ass Sunday, November 11
Katy @ no big dill Monday, November 12
Melissa @ all buttoned up Tuesday, November 13
Julie @ Color Chic Wednesday, November 14

The Ribbon Jar is proud to offer 1,200 of the most delicious ribbons you’ll find anywhere. In addition we’ve started carrying a special selection of notions to help in your crafting adventures. From velvets, jacquards and ric-rac to specialty trims our goal has always been to make quality ribbon and trim available by the yard to every day crafters. We continue to offer Special Collections in jars and for more economical shipping our curated collections are available as ribbon packs. We're so excited to have Christina participating in our blog hop and can't wait to see her creative use of our ribbon!

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Ribbons Used

Hoop Travel Bag (from top to bottom)
♥ Red Gingham Ribbon 15mm
♥ Red Double Faced Satin Ribbon 6mm
♥ Cardinal Red Trimming Braid 20mm
♥ Red and White Dots Woven on Reversible Ribbon 12mm
♥ Corazon Dupioni Silk 18mm Ribbon
♥ Red Saint Malo Stripe 15mm
♥ Red Pom Pom Fringe 10mm Trim with 6mm Balls

Pencil Holder (from top to bottom)
♥ Cherry Stitched Red French Cotton Ribbon 20mm
♥ Barn Red Grosgrain Ribbon 15mm
♥ Cream 12mm Herringbone Ribbon
♥ Bordeaux  Silk Melange Ribbon 15mm