Sewing Tutorial: Ribbon Embroidery

Most of us love embroidery…the type where you use embroidery floss,  but did you ever think about embroidering with ribbon? It’s such a beautiful and easy technique! It’s actually easier than embroidering with embroidery floss!

Silk-ribbon embroidery is a romantic old art that uses ribbon, embroidery floss, and perle cotton to work beautiful floral motifs and decorative stitch patterns by hand on garments and accessories.

The antique quality of this form of embroidery is so unique and can be use it to embellish crazy-quilted bags and purses, as well as contemporary garments cut from a single fabric. Silk-ribbon embroidery is easy and fun to do, and even a novice embroiderer can create elegant floral arrangements and beautiful patterns with some simple stitches.

There are many different embroidery stitches, but I’ve found that just five basic stitches, used alone or in various combinations, can create a large array of floral motifs and stitch patterns. The ribbon stitch is for ribbon only, but the lazy daisy, straight stitch, French knots, and stem stitch can be made with ribbon or thread. Try them, and you’ll see that the ribbon produces a different effect with each stitch.

My daughter and I really got into this type of embroidering and we love how different it is from embroidering with embroidery floss. You’ll see, when you give this a try!

Watch how Handiworks does this in their step by step tutorial!