I've missed stitching flowers. I did a lot of flowers back in the spring and early summer, and I think I need to do more this month. With my focus on using unusual or new materials, I don't think it'll be hard to do. Many of the materials I selected could easily be made into flowers. I even picked one material specifically to try making a 3D flower...coming soon.
Ribbon embroidery is a specific type of embroidery. It utilizes many of the same stitches as surface embroidery, but thread is replaced with ribbon (usually silk ribbon). I'm not a ribbon embroiderer. When I was thinking about today's piece and practicing, I wasn't trying to replicate the work or ribbon embroiderers or learn a new type of embroidery. I just wanted to see what the stitches would look like stitched in ribbon instead of thread. I ended up doing some research online and I found a lot of videos of people ribbon embroidering. They're really fun to watch. There are also gathering techniques used to make flowers and other shapes. I haven't attempted gathering yet, but may try it later in the month.
I only had a few ribbon choices at home. I didn't buy any over the weekend when I was shopping for googly eyes, and I regret that choice. I used 1/4 inch ribbon, which wasn't terrible to work with, but I think a slightly narrower ribbon would have been a better choice. I did have the right type of needle (chenille size 18), so that worked out well. The split stitch is my favorite of the stitches I practiced before doing today's piece; it's got a cool texture that is very leaf-like. French knots work well with ribbon too.
One thing to watch out for is the twist of the ribbon. A stitch will look very different depending on the way the ribbon twists. I found that it was harder to manage a split stitch if the ribbon twisted a certain way, but for other stitches, the twist added something extra to the design (this was on my test swatches). It's also harder to pull ribbon through fabric, so your fingers may hurt a bit. My thumb hates me right now (it's a little tender). It reminds me of stitching on paper or metal; it takes a little extra effort to bring the needle through the fabric. Using a thinner ribbon probably would help with this, but I worked with what I had on hand.
Anyway, another successful experiment with a material I don't normally use. I'll definitely bring this back again...once my thumb heals.
Details:
Stitches: split, straight, back stitches
Thread palette: DMC 310 (3 strands for the border)
Other materials: 1/4 inch ribbon in purple and pink - I didn't use silk ribbon since I don't have silk ribbon. If I was really going to learn ribbon embroidery, I'd buy some silk ribbon.
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