Announcing the New Ribbons Unlimited Design Team...

Before we get to our announcement, we wanted to take a few moments to give a special "Thank You" to everyone that applied!  The applications were all so fabulous and we appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to submit to the call!  We hope you continue to share your ribbon work on our Facebook page and try for the next term!

We are very excited about our new team and can't wait to share all their fabulous projects with you!  Please help us welcome our new Ribbons Unlimited Design Team!

Jamie Cripps - Team Lead|Social Media
Nicole Stark
Steph Ackerman
Jamie Larsen
Melissa Craig

and a special guest designer
all the way from Dublin, Ireland...
Joanna Solecka

Be sure to click on the team names to visit their blogs!

We will begin sharing their work with you soon so be sure to check back often!

DIY Ribbon Lei with Penga!

Penga is with us today to share a fabulous DIY Ribbon Lei!  These Ribbon Lei's are wonderful for many occasions, even the upcoming graduation events!  Here's Penga to tell you 

Eager to test out the ribbon-lei-making-method from Sak's mom, I added a small bead to the bottom of my really-long-thread as an anchor.  In retrospect, if one was planning on making a heavy-duty lei-to-last-a-lifetime, stronger thread (or even embroidery floss?) might work better. I have a feeling if you tugged on the lei hard enough, the thread would break and destroy all your hard work. Not that this has happened to me *yet*.

Continuing on, layer the 1/4" ribbon on top of the wider one, but keep it to one side.  Then do a simple running stitch down the length, as close to the edge as possible.

You can see that when you pull the string now, it will tighten the ribbon and create...a ruffly loop!

See where this is going? Just continue stitching up...

And scrunching down...

Until your lei is long enough!

I love this style, don't you? It's a little more sophisticated than the ribbon-loop version, however it takes much, much longer.  If you have a long running stitch setting on your sewing machine, it would be much faster than hand-sewing.

Breakdown:

~10 yards 1.5" ribbon 

~10 yards 1/4" ribbon

I plan to give this lei to my cousin since he's graduating from high school in a couple weeks. 

And just to show you what the first method looks like with two colors, here's another lei I made for a family friend of ours, graduating from my own high school alma mater:

I used the same method, alternating between two loops of red and two loops of blue to get the colors to bundle together.

And that's it for the graduation leis! Next year I will most likely return to this subject in overdrive, since that seems to be the big year for many of our relatives.

Be sure to check out more of Penga's work HERE!