Frippery, Gewgaws and Triffles.....

I promised to show you how to make a silk carnation without a needle and thread. Here it is. All you do is cut a 2 to 3" piece of silk ribbon. Then you put a dot of glue on one end so the the threads won't come loose. On the other end, you work one thread out of one edge with a pair of tweezers or a needle....OK so there can be a needle involved, if need be. Then you simply pull on the thread until the silk gathers into a rosette(carnation). Put a small dot of glue on the back to keep the thread in place. Cut off thread and there you have it.

Another interesting thing with the ribbon is to pull both edge threads. This gives you ruching. With this, I sometimes simply start with the whole bolt of ribbon and just pull the two threads until I think that I have enough. Then I put a dot of glue at both ends and cut it off. If you need to cut it anyplace in the center, be sure to put a dot of glue on the edges before you cut. Otherwise, you will loose all of the pretty gathers. You can tape it or pin it to a board and play with the ruching until it pleases you. It can be glued to clothing or furniture as decoration. Once it is glued, don't expect to move the pleats. Do that before you attach them to your project.

Last but not least, bow tying can be a nuisance. I am sure that some of you have already heard about the pin method, but I will include it for people that haven't.

Enlarge the photo to see the steps better.

1. Put two pins in a pinboard as far apart as you want the finished bow. In this case, I did them 1/2" apart. Thread your ribbon on a tapestry needle. I find it easier to work with the needle than fighting the flimsy ribbon. Starting with the end of the ribbon at the bottom right, leaving a tail as long as you want the finished bow, pin it to the board. Then loop it around the top left pin, across the back and around the right pin, crossing over the first tail.

2. Bring the tapestry needle up and under the body of the bow, between the pins.

3. Pull the tail on the needle down over the top of the bow, keeping the ribbon tight.

4. Loop the needle under the first tail from left to right. Then bring the needle back over the top of the first tail and loop it under itself. Pull the two tails up tight and you have a perfect bow. If you need to make several bows the same size, this comes in handy.

Go get some silk ribbon and practice. Tessie is tied up right now....Literally. She says "Help!" and "Get me out of this mess!" I won't show you a photo of this. It would be cruel. I have to go unravel things now.

I will see you tomorrow.