Knotted Ribbon Roses – Shoe Clips

Long, cold winter days lend themselves to Pinterest-surfing. Lo and behold, I found a new way to make fabric/ribbon flowers!

Perusing the “ribbon” section on Pinterest I came upon a lovely flower made from satin ribbon. I particularly liked the way the knots in the ribbon created the illusion of curling petals, so I embarked on duplicating that flower. I had only the photo to go by, so I estimated the length and width of each strip of ribbon, and how many strips were required. My first one came out okay, not much more than that. I think I may need at least 5 or 6 more petals. Maybe shorter strips? But the satin was so slippery to tie and the knots wanted to slip out!

After completing this rose, I learned two things from the experience. First, if I wanted to make a lot of these, I’d need a whole lot of ribbon (each rose used over 3 yards). This would be quite expensive, as it really needs a double-sided satin ribbon. Also, this one turned out quite large, and I couldn’t see myself finding a home for it. Lovely, but what would I use it for?

In order to overcome the expense part of this endeavor, I thought of using fabric, as I have mountains of that. I also decided that I am not so much into the glamorous look as I am the everyday, pretty look.  So I began with a blue chambray, and then a pastel striped batiste. Cute, but still not quite what I was looking for.

Somehow, they looked a bit unexciting to me. I liked the way the edges of each petal were a little shaggy, but something needed adjusting…

So then I tried a peach quilting fabric, increasing the width of the strip from 3/4″ to 1″. I think I’ve got it now!

Each rose requires 20 strips of bias-cut fabric, 1″ X 4″. Then knot each strip right in the middle and pull taut. As you tighten the knot, try to twist the right side of the fabric to face up at both ends.

Fold each strip in half and gather onto heavy duty thread until you have a long chain of pieces. Tighten this long chain and tie off. Connect the ends, and…

Ta-Da!! Tug a little at a few petals to fill in the top, and smush it around a little bit. The roses measure about 2 1/2″ across, so they are the perfect size for a shabby-chic shoe clip! Just glue a felt circle on the back and attach a metal shoe clip. (Note: don’t bother with the cheap ones – they break so fast. Invest in the French Bluette clips if you are serious about using these more than once. I buy mine on Etsy.)

I absolutely love the result and have made up a couple more colors, one with hearts and the other with green ivy. And I’m convinced I am not finished yet!