A Ribbon Garland for a Wedding

Use satin ribbon for a sleek, shiny, floral ribbon garland.

Create a beautiful garland to adorn the church pews, the staircase or even the wedding tables on your special day. The garland is made from lengths of ribbon shaped into flowers. The flowers are paired together back to back and then joined in one long strand of elegant flowers to create a garland that you can drape across the table or wind around the staircase, with no rough or unfinished edges visible. Use a single color ribbon to make the garland or incorporate all of the colors of your wedding into the garland with a pattern of different colored ribbon flowers.

Things You'll Need

• 2-inch wide ribbon
• Fray-preventing solution
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Felt fabric
• Rhinestone or gemstone buttons
• Sewing needle
• Fabric glue

Instructions

1. Cut the 2-inch wide ribbon into 24-inch long strips. You will need one strip for every ribbon flower for the garland.

2. Treat every end with fray-preventing solution to keep the ribbon flowers in perfect shape.

3. Sew a 3/8-inch wide straight stitch down one long edge of each piece of ribbon and then tug on the threads when you're finished to gather each ribbon into a circle. As you pull on the thread, the ribbon will ruffle and form a circular, flower-like shape. Knot and cut the thread to keep the ruffled flower shape.

4. Sew a straight stitch along the short ends of the ribbon flowers to lay them flat.

5. Cut a 2-inch circle of felt for each flower and hold one piece against the underside of each flower. Place a gemstone or rhinestone button in the top, center of each ribbon flower. Sew between the button and the felt to connect the two pieces to each flower. It's okay if you sew a few stitches through the center of the ribbon as you work.

6. Spread glue on the back of the felt on two flowers and press the two flowers together back to back. Let the glue dry. Repeat with each pair of flowers.

7. Lay out each pair of flowers side by side and sew a few stitches through the right edge of one pair into the left edge of the next pair to build the garland. Repeat to attach all of the flowers.

References

• "The Complete Photo Guide to Ribbon Crafts"; Elaine Schmidt; 2010