How to Curl Grosgrain Ribbon

Grosgrain ribbon is a beautiful type of ribbon that can be used in scrapbooking, making bows, or a host of other craft projects. Most of the time, the grosgrain ribbon will need to be curled to give it a more attractive quality and enable it to be used to its full potential. Curling grosgrain ribbon is a fairly simple process, but it is recommended that you do several pieces at once to save time in the future. Follow these steps to learn to curl grosgrain ribbon.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Grosgrain ribbon
• Small wooden dowels
• Small bowl
• Water
• Wooden clothespins or metal clips
• Flat pan or cookie sheet (oven-safe)
• Aluminum foil
• Scissors
• Oven
• Potholders

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Preheating the oven now will ensure that it is ready after you have prepared the ribbon for the curling process.

2. Cut the grosgrain ribbon to the lengths you would like them to be. Remember that when the ribbon becomes curled, it may shrink in length, as the curls will coil it somewhat.

3. Fill the small bowl with water and place the cut ribbon pieces and clothespins into the water to soak. If you are using metal clamps instead of clothespins, you will not need to place them in the water. You soak the ribbon so that the curl will set better, and you soak the clothespins to prevent them from burning in the oven.

4. Wrap the grosgrain ribbon around the small wooden dowels, beginning at one end and finishing at the other. Make sure the entire length of grosgrain ribbon is wrapped around the dowels, with no excess hanging off. If there is an excess of ribbon, simply cut it off.

5. Place the clothespins or metal clips on each end of the wooden dowels to keep the grosgrain ribbon in place while it is curling. You can wrap the clothespins or metal clips with aluminum foil to keep them cool to the touch when you later remove them from the oven.

6. Cover a cookie sheet or other flat oven-safe pan with aluminum foil, and place the grosgrain-ribbon-covered dowels on it. The aluminum foil ensures that the ribbon and dowels do not stick to the cookie sheet or pan.

7. Put the cookie sheet or pan with the ribbons on it into the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. After 8 minutes, check on the ribbon. If it is dry, you can take it out; if not, leave it in for another 2 minutes or so. Use potholders to remove the pan to keep from burning your hands.

8. After it has had a chance to dry, unwrap the ribbon slowly and carefully from around the dowels. Your grosgrain ribbon should now be nicely curled, and can be shaped and used for any craft project you desire.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to soak the ribbon in water for several minutes so that the curl will hold.
• Wrap the clothespins or metal clips with aluminum foil to keep them cool to the touch.
• Curl several pieces of grosgrain ribbon at once to save for future craft projects.
• Store curled grosgrain ribbon in a hard container to keep it from becoming flattened.
• Use caution when operating the stove; use potholders to keep from burning yourself.
• If using wooden clothespins, make sure to soak them so they don't burn in the oven.
• Never use plastic clothespins or clips in the oven.

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on 7/22/2009 Trendypack ribbon is a sister line of Papillon Ribbon and Apex Trimmings. We offer a world-wide net method of selling our products by the use of online orders.