Easy Coordinated Ribbon Tutorial

Ok, so I love mixing different colors of ribbon for a project but sometimes it can get to be expensive to buy multiple widths, colors, and textures, just to get a few that coordinate. So here's another option:

Looped Decorator Fringe

You can get this fringe anywhere that sells home decor fabric. They have some at all the major craft chains and if you live in the suburbs north of Dallas try Childress Fabrics. (They have two locations, try their Frisco location.)

It will look like this:

When you buy it, make sure that it has loops at the bottom, and is not cut. If it's not looped it will not work. I bought about one yard for $4.00. This particular fringe has four different ribbons in it. If you are cutting fringe, wrap the area that you want to cut with some tape. Then cut in the center of the tape. (See picture below.) This will keep both sides from unraveling before you're ready to unravel it.

After you've cut off a piece to use, start unpicking the top that holds the fringe together. A unpicker (don't know if that's the right term) or a pair of scissors with sharp points should work well. As you unpick it it, you'll get pieces of ribbon. I usually wrap these around a small piece of foam core to keep it from getting tangled. Now you have 2 yards of 4 different types of ribbon. (Yep, you doubled what you had because it was looped back on itself.) You can use just one, or all on a project.

Here is a card I made with all of the ribbon. There were two pieces that were about 1/4" wide and two that were 1/8" wide. It is also shimmery. (You can see this a little better in the close up at the bottom.) I printed out a sentiment on a piece of cardstock in a color to match the ribbon and matted it on a piece of dark red paper. I wanted a little more dimension on the card, so I folded up the matted cardstock to give it a little frame around the sentiment. (You can see that a little better on the closeup below too.) The sentiment says: "Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is having the courage to dance to it today." I really like this quote!




Hope you enjoy it!