Nothing compares to the wonderful three-dimensional look of silk ribbon embroidery, and you can
capture this elegant look on a myriad of different things.
Welcome the birth of new little ones into your family with a wonderful family heirloom
that will be treasured for years to come, or make a simple sweater stunning with a romantic
floral accent.
You can capture the spirit of the season with a fantastic array of exquisite holiday gifts
and home decor projects, or create an elegant Victorian heirloom for yourself or for a friend.
There are so many beautiful products to choose from, and it's so easy to learn.
All it takes is five easy stitches.
Hi, I'm Joyce Rody, and with me is Deb Steele.
Today Deb is going to show us how with five really simple stitches you can create a whole
array of beautiful exquisite heirloom projects.
Deb, tell us about silk ribbon embroidery.
Silk ribbon embroidery is one of the newest, most exciting things to come out in stitchery
or crafts.
It's a kind of stitchery that breaks all the rules of other kinds of stitchery.
I like that.
You don't have to be so exact and have everything perfect.
You can be more creative, you can have more fun, and you can do a lot of things that express
yourself.
Well, you know, years ago I used to do cruel work, and it's a flat look to it.
This has more dimension, I've noticed.
It really does.
It has a real 3D effect, and because we're using the silk, we get the sheen of the fabric.
It's just gorgeous.
Well, when I look at the projects in front of me, they look very difficult.
How hard is it?
You know, it's very deceiving, Joyce, because you look at them, and they look so rich, and
they do look complex.
A year ago, I had never heard of silk ribbon embroidery, and I started it, and I found
out in a few stitches I was able to do incredible things.
I got so excited, I invited my friends to the house, and I started teaching them.
They got excited, and it's just been such fun.
Since then, I've started teaching for Busilla, and I've gone all over the country and enjoyed
meeting people and showing them and getting them excited about this new thing.
Well, how would I go about getting started?
You know, I think the best way is to start with a kit.
When you start with a kit, you've got everything you need right there.
This is one of my favorite ones from Busilla.
Oh, that's gorgeous.
It's a beautiful design.
If you purchase this, you are going to have the ribbon, the needles, the fabric with the
transfer design on it.
Everything you need is right here.
It's a great way to get started.
The instructions take you step by step with diagrams.
You can begin, and your first project is going to look beautiful.
Let's take a look at the finished project.
This is it.
As you can see, the pattern does stand out, and it looks so close to nature.
That's what I love about it.
The pansies almost look like dried flowers.
Aren't they beautiful?
They're so delicate.
They're just gorgeous.
They really are.
These are the component parts here of the kit.
You can see it's a beautiful moire fabric, and the silk ribbon.
The colors are glorious, and the silk ribbon itself has a feel to it that it's so light
but strong.
Silk is the strongest natural fiber, which is interesting.
It's very soft.
It's very soft, and it's very easy to work with, easy to manipulate.
It's really, really a fun thing.
Once you get your hands on this, you're going to feel so comfortable with it, and it eased
doing it, and get incredible results.
You don't really have to start with a big project like this, either.
You have a small, little broach there.
Yes.
Sometimes, when I'm teaching people, and I have just a short amount of time, it's nice
to start with something that's simple.
This project here has two silk ribbon stitches.
You can do that in what?
How many minutes?
15 minutes to do this.
That would be a nice little gift.
It's a wonderful gift.
When you look at something like this, you immediately assume that there's a lot of time
put into it, so it's kind of a well-kept secret, I guess.
This here that I have, I took from a transfer in a book, and I just changed some of the
colors, and was able to create a design that I was really happy with.
You can purchase the colors separately.
If you don't want to get a kit, you can purchase the silk ribbon with the 90 different colors,
two different widths, and you can either use the books with the transfers, or you can start
creating your own designs, which is really fun.
You can be more creative.
That's right.
If you want to look at a painting, and see a design there, and kind of duplicate it with
silk ribbon, once you've learned these few stitches, you're going to be able to do that.
How exciting.
Well, I'm anxious to learn the stitches.
We're going to do that next.
Let's go to the dining room.
Great.
Deb and I are in the dining room, and I'm ready for my instructions.
This is the fun part.
This sure is.
How do we get started?
The first thing you want to remember is to always put your work in a hoop, so that you've
got it real flat and taut.
It's going to be much easier to work on with the silk ribbon.
Another thing I want to mention is the kind of needle that we use.
It's a chenille needle, which means that it has a nice long eye, so that the silk ribbon
will lay flat in it, and it has a pointed end.
The tapestry needle has a long eye also, but you need to have the pointed end.
One of the funnest things with silk ribbon embroidery is getting started with our ribbon
on the needle.
After we've threaded it through this eye, we need to lock it on, because the ribbon
is so fine, and it slips very easily, so we've got a little trick to prevent that.
We simply pierce the end of the ribbon about a half an inch down, hold the point, and give
a tug.
Oh, simple.
And our ribbon is locked on.
Isn't that great?
Yes.
But we also need a knot at the end, so we're going to do a little, kind of like a little
running stitch, or a basting stitch, but always go in from the cut end towards the long end,
and just take a little stitch, and slip it right down to the end.
Through the whole length of the ribbon.
Yep.
That's it.
Okay.
Okay, so we're ready to begin.
How long of ribbon are we going to use here?
We shouldn't go over about 18 inches.
Anything longer than that will probably start to fray.
14 to 18 inches is ideal.
Okay.
Okay.
So the first stitch we're going to do today is called the Japanese Ribbon Stitch.
We're going to do it right here on the transfer, and I've got a little pin here.
Oh, isn't that sweet.
Isn't that something?
Now, usually the Japanese Ribbon Stitch is used for leaves, so we use it really often.
But here's an example of it being used for leaves and the flowers.
See how the tulip petals are corned with the same stitch.
So it's a great stitch to learn.
Look what you can do.
One whole project just with one stitch.
One stitch.
Terrific.
Okay.
I'm going to take my green ribbon, and on this line I'm going to come up at the end
of the line.
Usually it's closest to the flower if you're doing leaves.
You'll start closest to the flower, come right up with the ribbon, and then lay it flat over
the line.
And you can just hold that with your thumb or your finger.
Now, we need to pierce both the ribbon and the fabric.
And if you want to just slide that over and see where the end of the line is, usually
there's a dot there.
And then pierce down through both thicknesses and pull it through.
Pretty easy, huh?
Yes.
Now, you're going to notice as you do this that there's a little curl or a little tab
at the end.
In some cases you'll want to leave that.
And that's the way the stitch looks.
But there's another look for this stitch also.
It's like learning two stitches as you learn one.
You give an extra little tug, and the sides of that ribbon are going to curl in and form
a pointed leaf.
Oh, beautiful.
Isn't that great?
Yes.
So there it is.
Simple as can be, the Japanese ribbon stitch.
Very nice.
Okay.
Do you want to go ahead and start?
I'd love to.
Okay.
Okay.
Here we go.
Okay.
Come in at the end closest to you.
Moving the needle right up through, and you'll notice how easily it comes through the fabric.
Oh, the ribbon glides right through.
Isn't that nice?
And then lay it flat.
Okay.
And I'm going to look for the end.
Uh-huh.
Just moving the ribbon over a bit, and then I'm going to go down through the ribbon.
Through the ribbon.
Mm-hmm.
And then pull it slowly through so you can see that little tab.
You can either leave that tab or give it an extra tug, and you can decide here which way
you want to do this.
Okay.
I think I'll leave it.
Great.
Okay.
That looks good.
Looks real good.
Okay.
Perfect.
There we have it.
Let's go on to another stitch that's a real fun one to do also.
It's the lazy daisy stitch.
Okay.
That sounds familiar.
Yes.
This was one of my favorites when I was young, when I did embroidery.
For this stitch, I'd like to show you an example here of lazy daisy stitches also used for
leaves and flowers.
This is very versatile.
Oh, yes.
You can see that these large leaves are the lazy daisy and the yellow flowers also.
Okay.
So, let's get started by bringing the needle up at the point closest to the center of the
flower.
Mm-hmm.
And we bring the ribbon up through again.
Circle, just kind of make a loose circle around.
We're going to go back in the same spot, almost exactly the same spot.
Okay.
And then come out at the rounded end of the petal, keeping this loop of ribbon underneath
the needle.
Now, you'll notice as we pull this through that the ribbon is going to automatically
see how those curls in the ribbon are automatically going to disappear under the fabric.
And this stitch straightens itself out.
And there we have it.
Now, all we do is put the needle down on the other side to secure the end of that petal.
Ah.
There we go.
Very nice.
Isn't that great?
Beautiful.
Mm-hmm.
There we have it, the lazy daisy stitch with silk ribbon.
I love it.
Okay, Joyce.
Let's give it a try.
Okay.
I think you'll enjoy this.
All right.
I have to say, this periwinkle blue is just gorgeous.
The colors in these ribbons are just outstanding.
And there's so many choices to have those 90 colors to choose from.
90 colors.
I can't imagine them coming up with 90 colors.
They're so gorgeous.
Okay, loop it around.
I'm going to do a big loop.
Uh-huh.
Come back down almost where I started and back out at the tip of the petal.
And I think it's a great choice that you're left-handed because...
Why's that?
Well, sometimes people think that if they're left-handed, they're not going to be able
to learn something.
But...
Ah.
You're picking this right up and doing great.
Oh.
Thank you.
Okay.
And down on the other side.
Just to secure?
Just to secure.
Mm-hmm.
There we go.
That's great.
How do you like it?
I love it.
Now, I like the way you left it kind of puffed up a little bit.
Loose.
Yeah.
You don't need to pull the silk ribbon too tight or you lose a lot of the effect, a lot
of the sheen of the ribbon.
So if you leave it a little bit loose...
It's going to look...
More dimensional.
Wonderful.
Okay.
It really is.
Okay.
The next stitch I'd like to show you is called the loop flower stitch.
And this is also a beautiful stitch.
I've got an example here that is just gorgeous.
Look at this.
Here are the three...
Ooh.
... loop flowers.
And you can see they just stand out and lift off.
Oh, they look so delicate looking.
They're beautiful.
And you can also see, having it on this blanket, that you can use all kinds of fabrics to do
this on.
Isn't that a great baby gift?
It is.
And it reminds me that the silk ribbon is absolutely gorgeous on sweaters.
You see this sometimes in stores.
Yes.
And they're very expensive.
And you can do your own designs on knits like this.
Fantastic.
Yeah.
So you can utilize a myriad of fabrics.
You really can.
There's really not any fabric that this doesn't work on.
Great.
So...
Okay.
I'm going to use the yellow for our loop flower stitch.
And again, we've got a little star design, and we're going to come up near the center
on one of these little lines.
Now this is a stitch that we want to lay flat.
We want the ribbon not to twist.
All right.
So one way to do this is to put a finger underneath it, like so.
We're going to go back in at the end of the line.
It's about a quarter of an inch out.
So the pattern's right there for you.
So this is the tip of the petal?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
We're going to pull this through.
Again, all the twists disappear in the back.
And you can pull it and have your petal form kind of push it down the way you want it to
go.
Okay.
There's our first petal.
Very nice.
Okay.
Now a little trick.
To go onto our second petal, we need to hold this because there's nothing securing it.
I see.
So we have to keep it in position, go onto the next petal.
And then after we've done the second petal, that first stitch is secured.
We don't need to worry about it.
We just need to hold the second stitch before we do the third.
Okay.
Okay.
So we come up again.
I'm going to lay this flat over my finger and down and pull, wanting to keep all the
twists out of the way there.
Sometimes you can manipulate a little bit.
There we have it.
The first two petals of the loop flower stitch.
That's very dimensional.
Yeah.
That's pretty.
That's great.
Okay, Joyce.
Are you ready to try this?
Yes.
This looks tricky.
This is a stitch that sometimes feels a little awkward when you begin.
So try not to feel frustrated if you feel like you need a third hand.
Once you've done it a couple of times, it's going to feel real natural.
I'm going to lay this over my thumb or finger, come back down through the tip of the petal,
and pull it down, keeping the top flat, and the bottom twist should disappear as you pull
it.
Beautiful.
Beautiful.
Then kind of lay it the direction you want it to go.
Okay.
Great.
Now you go on to the second.
Hold this in place, come up through the bottom.
That's probably smart if you're left-handed to work this way.
Is it?
Yes, because then you've got your finger free to come this way as you're holding the loop.
There you go.
All right.
Boy, you're looking like a pro.
I can't believe you're just learning.
This is wonderful, but it proves the point that this is very easy to learn.
I think I grabbed ahold of a knot underneath.
Okay.
You can just adjust a little bit.
It's going to be fine.
Okay.
Hold it down.
Hold it down.
Okay.
The twists are disappearing, and you have it.
That's great.
Yay.
Oh, I love it.
We've done the first two loops of the loop flower stitch.
Okay.
Okay.
Let's go on now to a really fun stitch.
This is one of my favorites.
This is the spider web rose.
Let me show you an example of the rose.
You'll see it a lot in samples of silk ribbon embroidery and patterns you look at.
The rose is used a lot because it is so gorgeous, and it shows the silk off.
It looks just like a rose.
It's surprisingly easy.
We do this in two stages, but it's a very easy stitch to do.
Okay.
The first thing we need to do is start with a little bit of embroidery floss, and we're
going to make five spokes on this pattern.
We just do five straight stitches.
I start at the outside and go into the middle.
This is so we have something to weave the silk ribbon on.
Okay.
You're making a wagon wheel effect.
Yeah, exactly.
These five stitches don't have to be exact.
You don't need to take a lot of time with this.
Okay.
You can just put them in real quickly because they're all going to be covered.
Oh.
Otherwise, I wouldn't use a green when I'm going to do a rose-colored rose, but nothing
will show.
Okay.
There we have our five stitches, and then we need to be sure that we tie off securely.
The knot?
Okay.
Yes.
Our knot in the beginning was very secure, and then we need to tie off.
I like to take just a little stitch because it's not going to show.
Grab some fabric with that needle.
Yep.
Then you're sure it's going to be secure.
Okay.
Then just tug it, and you've got a knot, and clip it off.
Okay.
Now the fun begins as we start with our silk.
Pretty baby pink.
Yeah.
It's beautiful.
We've come up near the center of this, and we're going to... I like to use the blunt
end of the needle as we weave this in and out.
I like to skip the first spoke and go right under the second.
If we're not using the point, we don't have to worry about anything getting caught or
snagged.
Okay.
We're going to pull that around and leave it just a little bit loose so it kind of stands
up for the center of the rose, and then go under, skip a spoke here, and go under this
one.
Okay.
Remember, you don't have to pull it too tightly.
Skip another spoke and go under, and we're going to start alternating, and as we do that,
it gives the wonderful pattern of petals in the rose that's very close to nature.
This is really a fun one to do.
So you're skipping every other spoke.
You don't need to worry that you can see embroidery thread, because as I keep going around and
around, it's going to get covered, and basically...
This is amazing.
It's like magic.
It is, and it's beautiful.
This is one stitch that when people try for the first time, they're amazed at what they
can do their first try.
Look at this.
Oh, that's exquisite.
Isn't it?
You'll see that the ribbon is twisting.
I'm not going to worry about that, because that adds more dimension to the rose, and
really makes it look like the petals are curving out.
Which a rose would do.
Yes.
Uh-huh.
And everyone's rose is going to look different.
As in nature?
That's the fun thing.
Yes.
No two roses look alike.
That's right, and everyone's tension is going to be a little different, and the way the
ribbon twists is going to make a difference to how this rose looks.
You've probably seen a lot of different-looking roses, huh?
I have, but you know they're all roses, and they're all beautiful.
Do you want to get started?
Lovely.
Yes.
Okay.
Now you did my spoke, my wagon wheel for me.
Yes.
Okay.
So you're going to come up in the middle.
Come up through the middle.
Okay.
Oops.
Okay.
Great.
Now using the blunt end.
Yeah.
Switch so that your blunt end is, and then-
Go under the first one.
Go under, and then skip one, and then go under.
That's great.
That's not hard, is it?
No.
Look at you.
And don't pull tight, right?
Right.
Leave it a little bit loose.
However, I've seen people pull them tightly, and it looks like a rose that the petals are
kind of closed.
Oh, it's budding.
It's very pretty like that, too.
Oh, all right.
So anything goes, right?
It's interesting to look at other people's roses and see how they do them, and kind of
adjust yours, you know, if you want a little bit different look.
It's kind of fun.
When I teach classes, sometimes I'll have everyone pass their roses around so we get
to see the kind of rose that everyone else has done, and it kind of encourages you, because
sometimes you'll be stitching and you'll look at your neighbor and think, oh, I like theirs
better than mine.
But then when you see them all, you realize they're all different, and someone else is
going to love yours.
Oh, I love the way this is turning out.
That's great.
Isn't that beautiful?
I love this.
Okay.
You're about around there now.
I want to show you how to finish off.
We just take a stitch on the outside, and it kind of forms the last petal of the rose.
Pull it down, and now our ribbon, we've pulled it through to the other side.
We turn it around, and I take a loose, just catch the ribbon like that, a loose knot,
and hold it down with my finger.
This is a real great way, or your needle, and pull that knot right down to the fabric
like that, and then snip it off, and that's the way to tie off all silk ribbon.
It's a real, real easy way to do it.
Look at that.
Yes.
We've got roses.
We sure do.
They're beautiful.
Okay.
The next stitch I'd like to show you is the French knot.
Have you ever heard of that?
Oh, yes.
That's very common to me, the French knot.
This is a little sample that includes a French knot.
You can see it's also got the loop flower on it, but these little purple ones are French
knots grouped together.
There are so many things you can do with this stitch.
Oh, beautiful.
These are quite small.
You can wrap the French knot anywhere from one to six times to make different sizes.
Okay.
We're going to use our purple, and you can see we have dots on our pattern here.
I'm just going to come up on one of them, and I have a foolproof way to do a French
knot.
It never fails.
I hold this off to the side.
I'm going to wrap twice today, and wrap two times, go down almost exactly where I came
up, and I like to, in the back, kind of move my knot out of the way so I'm not going through
more silk in the back.
Pull this down slowly, and as I hold the tension here, it's going to stay in position, and
it's not going to form prematurely, and look at that.
Now because it's silk ribbon, it's just so pretty, and I like to leave it big.
If you wanted to have it smaller, wrap just once.
It almost looks like a bud.
It does.
If you put green leaves, little green leaves on each side of this, it looks like a little
flower.
It's beautiful, so that's it, the French knot.
French knot.
Okay.
Do you want to try it?
I'll try it.
Okay.
Okay.
This stitch is used a lot.
I'll come up through the middle.
Okay.
There you go, and wrap it twice, okay.
Hold the tension.
That's great, and right down.
Once you learn to do a French knot this way, you'll never change because it's always going
to turn out, it's always going to look good.
There you go, pulling it, and the French knot is right in position, and then just decide
how tightly you want to pull it.
Look how big that is.
Isn't that pretty?
Yes, very nice.
If you wanted it smaller, you could pull a little tighter, but the ribbon looks gorgeous
when it's done that way.
That is just beautiful.
Joyce, you've learned five stitches.
Oh my goodness.
This is wonderful.
Now I have a challenge for you.
This is a transfer on this shirt that includes only the stitches we've learned.
It's going to be a beautiful design.
What do you think?
You want me to do this?
Yes.
I know you can do it.
This is my project.
This is your project.
I've got the ribbon for you, so take it, and I'll check back in a little while, and we'll
see how you're doing.
Terrific.
Good luck.
Enjoy.
I will.
Oh, Joyce, that's beautiful.
It looks like you're almost finished.
I am.
I'm just finishing up this last row.
And you've been working how long?
A couple of hours?
Just a couple of hours.
I can't believe how beautiful this turned out in such a short time.
You have done a gorgeous job.
How was it following the instructions?
Was everything okay?
Fine.
No problem at all.
I think learning those stitches first, going over them briefly, probably, oh, this is gorgeous.
Look at your Japanese ribbon stitches on the blue flowers.
Oh, you left the little tab on all of them, and it's just gorgeous.
How do you like the two-colored rose?
That's beautiful.
You got real creative here.
A little variegated there, just to make it look more dimensional.
That is so pretty.
You know, one of the things I was a little concerned about when doing this was the washability.
Oh, I'm glad you asked that.
The thing about the silk is that it is washable.
It's color-fast, so you don't need to worry about that.
I like to hand wash silk, but some people do put it in the washing machine on gentle
cycle.
Really?
There are only two things to avoid.
Wash and don't use woolite.
Okay.
Other than that, you should be fine.
To keep the silk puffy and to not flatten it out, you don't want to ever iron over
it.
You can turn it upside down on a real thick towel, iron it on the wrong side, and then
it'll just keep full and puffy.
Another thing that works really well is to spritz it with water if it gets flat.
As it dries, silk being a natural fiber expands.
I'm proud of you.
Well, I'm going to give this t-shirt to my mom.
She won't believe that I did this myself.
It's gorgeous.
You've done great.
Thank you.
Finally, a craft that is beautiful and quick and easy to do.
Now you can capture the elegance of silk ribbon embroidery for yourself with these exciting
products from Bucilla.
See the incredible range of beautiful kits for beginners.
Each kit comes with all the ribbon included to make the project.
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These and other Bucilla products are available at all fine craft retailers nationwide.