How to sew your own ribbons

Many of my designs require ribbons of various kinds, and I always write that you can choose between buying ready-made ribbon or sewing your own.

Sewing your own ribbon is not particularly difficult, and in many cases I personally think it is preferable as you can get a ribbon that matches the rest of the product perfectly .

Here I show two ways to sew your own ribbon, depending on the width of ribbon you are looking for.

This is how you sew a narrow band, e.g. 1 cm wide.

01. Cut out a 4 cm wide piece of fabric to the length you want + about 2 cm.

02. Fold the ribbon in half with wrong sides facing each other and press.

03. Open the ribbon again and fold both edges towards the middle, and then once more in the middle along the fold you made in step 2. This can make it easier to pin at regular intervals. Press between the needles/clips.

04. Open all the folds at the ends of the ribbon, fold the end in about 1 cm and press.

This is how you sew a wider band, e.g. 2 cm wide.

01. Cut out a piece of fabric that is the width you want on the band x 2 + 2 cm and the length you want + a few cm.
(If I want a band that is 2 cm wide, I cut out 2 cm x 2 + 2 cm = 6 cm, if you want a band that is 3 cm wide, you cut out a band that is 3 cm x 2 + 2 cm = 8 cm wide.)

02. Fold the ribbon in half right-side-up and pin. Mark out about 5 cm in the middle, here we will leave an opening when we sew. If you want a pointed end on your ribbon, you can draw a point in the same way I did in the picture.

03. Sew along the open edge with a 1 cm seam allowance. If you want pointed ends, sew along the point you drew, otherwise sew straight across the short side. Do not forget to leave an opening in the middle of the tape where we made markings. Trim excess fabric from the tip or corners of the ribbon.

04. Turn the tape right side out using a pen or similar.