How to Print on Grosgrain Ribbon

Printed Grosgrain ribbon

Printed grosgrain ribbon can be found everywhere, from the tie on a package in a chic little boutique to the featured motif at today's trendiest weddings. Of course you can buy huge amounts from a business that sells wholesale ribbon but what if you want just a couple of yards of ribbon for a special project?

This easy and fun technique utilizes an ink jet printer and transfer paper to make fast professional looking printed grosgrain ribbons for any occasion or project.

Things You'll Need

• Grosgrain ribbon 3/4 to 1 inch in width, light colors are the easiest to work with
• Household iron
• Ink jet printer with colored ink
• Ink jet transfer paper.
• Scissors
• straight edge

Instructions

1. Printing grosgrain ribbon is not complicated but a couple of skills are nesassary for a good outcome. If you can use a basic word processing program, can select fonts and pick text colors and print on your ink jet printer you are half way there. If you can use an iron and have a little patience you are home free!

2. When at the fabric store picking ribbon you will find many types. From silk ribbon to vintage ribbon there are so many to choose from. Grosgrain ribbon is a good place to start and is easy to find in multiple sizes and colors at most fabric stores. Buy enough for your project plus enough to run a few ironing tests.

3. Washing your ribbon is the first but optional step. It adds time to the project but does assure the best chance at ink adhesion to the grosgrain ribbon from your ink jet transfer paper. To wash ribbon, pull it off it's spool and give it a little hand swish in some soapy water, rinse and then hang to dry. After the ribbon is dry lightly iron so that it's nice and flat.

4. 

   Now that your ribbon is ready it is time to get to the computer and open your word processing program and compose the text that you want to put on your ribbon. Play around with size and font style. Remember, you need to stay in scale so that the font is clear when small enough to fit on the width of your chosen ribbon.

5. 

   Run a test copy of your font and text size words on a piece of plain paper. Cut these out in strip form ( think Chinese fortune cookie strips) and see how they compare to the size of your ribbon. If you got it right on the first try, good for you, if not go back and play with it. This step takes me at least 2-3 tries, so don't give up!

6. When you have the right size and font then cut and paste this in your document for as many times as you are going to need it. Skip a line or two for each line of text. This will give you room to cut later on. Even with this you will be able to get up to 100 impressions per ink jet transfer sheet. What a deal huh?

7. Ok.. all eyes up here class.. this is important and it's the only really tricky part of the whole project. When the document is full and you are ready to print you are going to have to find the feature in your word processing program that lets you make a mirror image of your document. This is important since the mirror image will print onto your ink jet transfer paper and then when you flip it face side down it will then be in correct position to iron on. This is easy to do wrong .. (uh yeah.. been there done that!) So look for your mirror image function. Use the help menu or a computer-geeky friend if you must.

8. When you have figured out the whole mirror image printing thing consult the packaging on your ink jet transfer paper for their specific details about printing.

9. Print your sheet, it should all read backwards, and that is good! Consult your product directions again about any wait time. If there is none you are in the clear, if not, go make a nice drink and get some snacks since the next step is a tad tedious but easy none the less.

10. Now with your sheet cured and snacks at hand it's time to cut the words or phrases into strips. Again, think strips like you find in a fortune cookie! Do not cut separate words apart unless you want some sort of ransom note effect. Leave phrases or names whole if at all possible.

11. 

    Time to iron! At the risk of being a "boring Betty" consult the directions on the ink jet transfer paper once again as to temperature settings for your iron. Most grosgrain ribbon is a synthetic blend so adjust accordingly. Cotton ribbon is available but can be harder to find.

12. Now, take your cut strips and lay them on the ribbon so that you have nicely laid them out down the length of your ironing board. Think about your spacing needs. Will these be for ribbon tags, ribbon hair bows, or maybe for tying up a gift? When you have decided on the spacing do a test and position the first strip and iron according to directions. Ironing is an art, not a science and perfection will not come each time but the over all effect will be charming I can assure you.

13. 

    Heat set your word-image on the ribbon if instructed to do so, otherwise you are now home free and you can create printed ribbons for any occasion you choose!

Tips & Warnings

• Printed Grosgrain ribbon is perfect for tying to wedding favors, making hair bows and of course ribbon bows for gifts of all kinds.

• Check your local fabric store for bargain bins with assorted ribbon you would like to try.

• If your project grows bigger or you are looking for a wider selection of ribbon try looking for a wholesale ribbon vendor they can often give you great discounts and have greater selection than typical fabric stores.

• Always be careful with the iron and do not leave it unsupervised

• Be careful when using vintage ribbon since limited quantises do give much room for "do-overs" but this can be worth the risk for the perfect effect.