Shibori Ribbon Easy Tutorial

What is Shibori Ribbon?  It's a strip of silk fabric that is twisted and pleated during the dying process to create a wonderful fabric embellishment that can be used in jewerly making and textile art and in this case, the elegant art of Victorian Crazy Quilting.

Created and manufactured by Shibori Girl, this gorgeous silk ribbon is available in a vast array of colors.

There are several online shops that carry the full line of Shibori Silk Ribbon but for Crazy Quilting, I recommend a scrap bag with a variety of shorter pieces.  These scrap bags are available from Shibori Girl Studios on Etsy.

So what do you do with Shibori Ribbon?  Let's get started.

Step 1:  Because Shibori Ribbon is made of silk and pleated, it's very fluid and reflective.  It can add movement to your crazy quilt block.  It adds texture and light and of course, color!  Determine where you want your ribbon on your block.  In my example, I wanted the ends sewn into the seams.  I started by pinching one end of the ribbon together and sewing the end down so that when I put this piece together, the ribbon will be sewn into the seam.  It's just a matter of tacking it down.  I used a fine silk thread by YLI for hand sewing:

Step 2:  Fan the pleats out a bit and tack the edge down along one side.  You'll want to tuck the raw edge under as you tack it down with tiny stitches.

As you can see in the photo below, I sort of "pinched" it in the center and then fanned it out again near the bottom.  Again, I want both ends sewn into the seam when I put this project together.

So continue to tack your ribbon down along the other edge until you're satisfied that your shibori ribbon is secure.  You don't need to a lot of tack stitches.  Just a few.

Step 3:  I like to use some sort of a focal point embellishment.  In my example, I used a round pink bead and then added "petals" with smaller bicone beads.  You can use buttons, a piece of vintage jewelry or anything else you like.

Step 4: Ya'll know me, I love beads!!!  I used a pink bead mix and trailed beads from the pink flower outward in the "valleys" of the pleats, following the flow of the Shibori ribbon.  You don't want to completely cover up your ribbon.  Make sure you can see the ribbon through your bead trails.

Step 5: For a little added interest, I sewed on a few little hand dyed lace daisies with a bead in the center.  Just a couple scattered here and there.

And that's all there is to it!  It's very simple and adds so much interest to a crazy quilt project. 

Of course, this isn't the one and only way to work with Shibori Ribbon.  As I use it on upcoming projects, I will share more technique tutorials but this one is a simple and good way to get started using it.

I still have some stitching to do on this block so I'll post another update on it over the weekend.  For now, I'm off to sew up a block for my next project.

Broiderie Perse Piece Finished

I have been stitching away on this little Broiderie Perse purse!  LOL!!  Yes, this will be a purse.

Here's a little something I wanted to point out:

I thought this piece of lace was a little boring looking.  It just didn't show up on the block.  I didn't want to take it off to hand paint it so, since I had my Rayon threads out, I decided to embroider it:

I satin stitched the little circles and then stem stitched the leaves.  This really defined the lace.  I went on to add some beads to it and them silk ribbon embroidery.

This is the finished stitched piece:

I have the frame to put it on so I'll get this sewn up either over the weekend or the first part of next week and I'll post another photo of it.

My next piece, which I'll start stitching on this afternoon is this:

As you can see, there will be a little bit of Broiderie Perse applique on this.  I was asked about the pink Shibori ribbon on the purse so I will be writing up a tutorial about working with Shibori ribbon when get to that point on this block.

If you want to see closeups of these photos, just click on them.

I'm going to leave you today with a YouTube video.  This is Marie Osmond singing Nessun Dorma from the opera Madam Butterfly.  My grandmother loved Madam Butterfly so it makes me think of her.  And I don't know about anyone else, but I think Marie Osmond does a beautiful rendition.

Correction Edit:  This piece is from Puccini's opera Turandot.  My grandmother always said it was Madam Butterfly.  Thank you to Catherine for correcting my error.  I'm well versed in Classical music but not opera.  I should have double checked it.  Still, it reminds me of my grandma who loved this piece!

Lady In Blue Purse

I decided to go with the original color themes already in the fabrics on this purse instead of introducing more colors.  I thought it would keep with the vintage theme:

The only color I'll be adding more of is some greens.  I have some shibori ribbon that I plan to make leaves out of so be sure to watch my follow up posts on that.

It is actually above 0 degrees today!  So got in my little car and went up to Meyer to walk around a little bit and then I went to the Post Office.  Not really an exciting day but it sure felt good to get in my car and go!