Ribbon Flower Card

Recently my niece had two little boys.  So I decided to send her a ribbon decorated card.  I got the idea from a book I received today called "Silk Ribbon Embroidery" by Jenny Bradford.  Her book is quite nice and has some interesting projects.  But I wanted to do my own design.  So I cut a two fold card and cut an oval in the center panel.

 

Card ready for ribbon insert.

 

 

The first flower was made by using a running stitch on one edge of the ribbon.  Then pulled tight and the thread secured with a knot.  Then the two ends were sewn together.  I also changed to a beading needle and added three 3mm bicones in the flower center.  The ribbon was about 5 inches long and 1/2 inches wide.

 

 

The flower was sewn to a white piece of cotton cloth that I selected for the background.

 

 

The red flower was a flat folded rose but I couldn't get it to look right.  I used about 6 inches of an organza ribbon that was 1 inch wide.  This was sewn to the background.

 

 

Using the same red ribbon I made a small flower by folding it lengthwise.  This gives it two layers.  Then I used a straight stitch down almost the middle of the ribbon.  Pulled it tight, made a knot and then sewed the ends together.  But when I added it to the background but I didn't like the composition.

 

 

Next I started to add leaves and stems in 2mm wide silk ribbon.  I realized that by changing the look of the first red ribbon it looked nice.  So instead of looking down on it we look at it sideways.  This sideways view made it look like a rose starting to bloom.  So I added the calyx and stem and a leaf on the right side.  Now that I was looking sideways at the composition the little flowers now looked like a hollyhock.  But they were two different colors.  So I removed the red flower and made another pink one.

 

 

 

Now it really started looking lovely.  I also added another leaf on the right side and a pink bud at the top.

 

 

Finally I took a tray of watercolors, the type that kids use, and painted the background.  The blue watercolor was rather intense so I kept adding water to the fabric.  Using the paint brush I moved the blue around the flowers and got a really nice shading effect.  I took the fabric out of the hoop and it is now it is drying.  Tomorrow I'm thinking of adding some lavender.