easy ribbon roses
May 1, 2007 by Chloe Findlay-Harder
Filed under Home & Living
I learned this method of making roses out of ribbon as a child, and have been making them ever since. They’re easy, look great and work with different widths of ribbon.
For this demo I used 1 1/2 inch wide grosgrain ribbon.
Cut a length of ribbon approximately 18″ to 24″ long (shorter if you’re using narrower ribbon) Fold it in half and make an “L” shape, like this:
Next, take the half of the ribbon that’s pointing down and fold it over so it’s pointing up.
This is what it looks like from the back:
You need to fold the ribbon on top of itself, alternating ribbon ends. The next step in the photo above would be to fold the top down, and then fold the ribbon from right to left. Always alternate the two pieces of ribbon.
Keep the ribbon pinched together (when you’re getting close to the end it may try and spring up at you!) Fold the ribbon together until you reach the end. Here’s a shot of the ribbon stack, still pinched together:
Pinch the working ends of the ribbon together and release the rest of the ribbon. It should look like this:
Hold the ends together and gently pull one end of the ribbon. Keep the end pinched against the ribbon you’re pulling.
It should gather together into this:
You’ll have one end of ribbon that’s quite short and one will be long. I prefer to stitch a couple of times in the center of the flower to hold everything together. You can also stitch a bead or a charm into the center. I trim the ribbon and put a dab of fray-check on the ends to keep them nice and tidy 
Wow, Chloe, I’m so glad I found this tute! If you don’t scrunch it down into a rose, this is called the friendship braid love chain in homecoming mum lingo. I’ve been looking “forever” for the directions.
Thank you for the tutorial!!!! I’ve been looking for one and have found several but this one was by far the least confusing
Thank you so much! I learned how to make this rose when I was a teenager. At a Franks Nursery and Craft make it and take it session. I lost the directions and I am so happy to learn how to make them again. It is so easy