Ribbon Gathered Carnation Tutorial

Sometimes you need a quick and easy Ribbon Gathered Carnation to add to a project. Ribbon gathered flowers are quick to whip up when you don’t have a lot of time.

Materials needed to make a Ribbon Gathered Carnation

1 m x 22mm grosgrain or satin ribbon
felt circle
needle
thread
scissors
hot glue gun
Wood burning tool (lighter or matches will also work)

Heat seal the ends of the ribbon (this is keep it from fraying while you work).  If using matches or a lighter quickly run the flame over the ends of the ribbon.  This will slightly melt the ribbon and prevent fraying.

Thread the needle with around 1.5m of thread and tie a knot in the end.  Fold over a small corner of the ribbon and push the needle through it.  This will reinforce the ribbon slightly when you start gathering.  Continue with a running stitch the entire length of the ribbon.  Before you start gathering the ribbon tie an small knot in the end where you began stitching.

Begin to pull the thread to gather the ribbon.  The tighter you gather the smaller your flower will be.  You can coil the ribbon to see how big it will be.  Once you are happy you can glue the knot into the centre of the round piece of felt.

This flower can be made without the felt backing.  If you wish to do this then start coiling the ribbon around the knot and glue it in place as you coil until all the ribbon is glued.

Slowly coil the ribbon around gluing to the felt as you go.

Continue until there is only a little bit of ribbon left.  Make sure you tuck the end of the ribbon under and glue so the end it not visible.

You have finished the Ribbon Gathered Carnation. If you are looking for more free tutorials check out our Blog.

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